Putting the lid on ‘chatter’ for Thanksgiving

Randi Kreiss

It may seem odd to confess in a newspaper column, but this year I went on a week-long news fast. Actually, it was the week up to and including Thanksgiving that I blacked out the news; I needed to clear my mind.

It all began when I woke up one morning not sure if health care reform was looking good or dead in the water, and fearful of a greater troop commitment in Afghanistan, and worried that Sarah Palin would really run again, and nervous that we were on the first leg of a W-shaped recovery. Before I even opened my eyes, I began reaching for the remote and my CNN morning fix.

I needed to know: What blew up while I slept? How many people were killed in terror attacks in Afghanistan, how many more thousands of people lost their jobs, and how many banks had gone belly-up. Or did I? What if I didn’t turn on the news?

What if I pulled the plug on the TV, left my New York Times on the shelf and plied my mind and body with old Beatles tunes instead?

There and then, I committed myself to a week without news. In the car, I would avoid NPR. Instead of Fareed Zakaria, I would turn to Springsteen. My world had become too grim. I needed to lighten my psychological load.

For an entire week, I avoided all news. What I discovered was that in my absence, nothing much happened. I had fantasized that perhaps some problems had been resolved during my news blackout. I thought I might learn that Iran had agreed to real inspections of its nuclear sites and that North Korea had taken a step toward meaningful nonproliferation negotiations.

I hoped that the stock market had continued its stunning rally and my money was back where it belonged, in my retirement account. I dreamed that a new diplomatic initiative had been launched in the Mideast, and the Palestinians and Israelis were talking seriously about peace. I fantasized that Hillary Clinton managed a breakthrough in the ongoing talks, and the long-sought peace could be attributed to her efforts.