Bay 12 Games Forum
Finally... => Life Advice => Topic started by: viskaslietuvai on March 29, 2009, 02:11:53 am
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Weird title I think for a forum topic. It does not come tripping off the tongue.
Anyway, I'm contemplating periodicals for my "real" college career. (vs. the janky community version I have been engaging in as of late) I'm majoring in economics with a minor in Mandarin Chinese. So I've got my int'l magazines pegged at the Economist and Foreign Affairs, now I'm just wondering what I should use for good domestic (I'm American) news. I'd prefer something that is without strong bias, like that of the Nation or the Weekly Standard. A balance of left, right, and moderate commentators and articles would be ideal. Any ideas?
First one to say Newsweek or Time gets the Cap'n Obvious hat. The people that run those are smart, but the issues themselves seem to be lacking a critical eye with the exception of some of their columnists.
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If you can't learn to see through bias, there's no point in reading the news.
Slate.com is pretty good.
But how about a newspaper?
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Hmm, maybe I shoulda been more specific. First, by non-biased, I meant a publication that didn't consistently favor conservative or liberal viewpoints but rather a smattering of opinions from across the political spectrum. I realize that the Economist does have a very definite viewpoint but they are relatively balanced when it comes to proposed ideas about what to do in response to an issue. And one of the important things I'd like to get out of whatever is recommended is a "Huh, I never thought of it that way," kind of feeling.
Also, for straight factual news I pretty much use a combination of google news and an account with the New York Times website. That's why I don't want a newspaper, but rather something that goes into greater depth and usually to do that a periodical needs greater time for reporting to do research.
As for the reason I want something with a hardcopy, I just like to be able to carry something with me. I can't tell you how much reading I get done while in an easy class. Tough to do that with a website.
I realize that I'm probably coming across as a huge pretentious douche in saying all this, but I was just hoping someone knew of a good, thoughtful publication.
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I read Time magizine. It's good.
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Christian Science Moniter has some fun articles. I usually end up with plain old ecconomist though.
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Newsweek seems to have a good balance of conservative and liberal writers.
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My roommate gets Newsweek and they've been pretty big on the sensationalist covers lately, which I dislike.
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I noticed that too, lots of covers that scream "Whoa, you're not gonna believe this!" lately.
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I noticed that too, lots of covers that scream "Whoa, you're not gonna believe this!" lately.
That's exactly why I'm hoping someone knows of a solid magazine that doesn't just put the 24 hour cable news cycle into print format.
At this point I'm thinking of the Atlantic Monthly. It seems like it has something approaching balanced opinions and it has a pretty decent editorial staff. But it has a fiction issue apparently which bothers the hell out of me.
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I'm well out of school, so I don't have the time I'd like to read bunches of news like I used to. For actual in-yer-hands stuff, I like the Economist with a Time chaser for weeklies - they show up at roughly the same time, and it's funny how much TV and radio news take their leads from those two, not vice-versa. Atlantic Monthly is a good bet - the New Yorker is also a good read.
Forget about finding the one non-biased publication, tho - there's no such thing. If that really concerns you, just read as many different rags as you can find. If you get to know them, you can spot (and compensate for) their politics pretty easily.
Oh, and don't discount the fiction - nothing speaks more about a people's mindset than the stories they publish.