How do I keep up with politics?

[CastletonSnob]

I want to follow politics, but I didn't pay attention to politics until 2016, and even then, I only read r/politics comments sections. I'm worried I'm too far behind to follow politics, and I might not be smart enough to understand them. There are so many news sources that I wouldn't even know where to start.

Any advice?

[Mihalik]

Instead of news rather start with reading political theory.

You can always start with Marx, Rousseau, Wolff and Hayek. Then start branching out. Don't shy away from reading theory that you outright disagree with. It's important to "understand" your opposition.

Once you have some grounding in theory it's much easier to read and watch news and understand the context.

Don't be intimidated by "It's a big book" shockingly most political theory is eminently readable, at least good theory. Also keep in mind times change. Look at each thing you read as a building block towards understanding modern politics, not as a comprehensive model.

Once you're grounded enough to be able to read between the lines, you can even watch Fox News for hours on end and just see the bullshit for what it is and extract valuable context.

[Veggie50]

I want to follow politics, but I didn't pay attention to politics until 2016, and even then, I only read r/politics comments sections. I'm worried I'm too far behind to follow politics, and I might not be smart enough to understand them. There are so many news sources that I wouldn't even know where to start.

Any advice?

Step 1: decide what politics you want to know about. USA? European? Asian? These are quite vastly different.

Step 2: study up on the systems these places use. You say you have been interested since 2016, so I’m gonna assume you’re mostly into American politics. America has a vast array of systems, most of which make no sense at all, but were once usefull before the invention of communication means more modern than a telegraph.

Step 3: read any news site and place any names to their proper position in the systems you’ve learned. At this point, it’s all game theory. How do people move to maximize their personal profits by taking their opponents moves into account.

[Shadowferal]

Everything I learned about politics I learned from here. /s

[Lenonis]

Everything I learned about politics I learned from here. /s

You may joke but this place tends to link to a lot of articles and information and some posters provide educated opinions.

But there is also the garbage trolls so.....

[PC2]

I want to follow politics, but I didn't pay attention to politics until 2016, and even then, I only read r/politics comments sections. I'm worried I'm too far behind to follow politics, and I might not be smart enough to understand them. There are so many news sources that I wouldn't even know where to start.

Any advice?

Any general news site should automatically cover the most important political happenings of the day. I use Google News on my Pixel phone and then I customize my news algorithm by giving them feedback on the quality of their political news recommendations.

Also I use Twitter and various YouTubers to catch up on the latest political stuff. Just keep watching/reading more news sources and then patronize the sources that you view as having the most integrity and the most news coverage to choose from.

[MCMLXXXII]

Funny to see this post:

You may joke but this place tends to link to a lot of articles and information and some posters provide educated opinions.

But there is also the garbage trolls so.....

Followed by this one:

Any general news site should automatically cover the most important political happenings of the day. I use Google News on my Pixel phone and then I customize my news algorithm by giving them feedback on the quality of their political news recommendations.

Also I use Twitter and various YouTubers to catch up on the latest political stuff. Just keep watching/reading more news sources and then patronize the sources that you view as having the most integrity and the most news coverage to choose from.

[Fugus]

You may joke but this place tends to link to a lot of articles and information and some posters provide educated opinions.

But there is also the garbage trolls so.....

Agreed, this has become my main spot to find news stuff so long we I have the time and don’t mind wading through pages upon pages of pigeon shit and feed.

Just wish the site would hurry up and give people a way to view users previous names so tracking the bad faith actors would be easier.

The closest thing they have to a way to track that is the ignore function which doesn’t even ignore their posts or responses too them and while it massive underperforms there it then over does it trying to hide entire threads because those posters made them which leads to you missing good threads that they started with misinformation that got corrected and improved while still watching 20+ pages of their posts with obscured boxes from them with the full text still there with peoples responses to them that you would have rather not sure up on your screen at all.

[Shadowferal]

You may joke but this place tends to link to a lot of articles and information and some posters provide educated opinions. But there is also the garbage trolls so.....

I was half-joking.
I've heard that pollution comes in various forms, but the most insidious are ideas which seeps into the intellect. In this regard I've received something of an education here.

[PC2]

Funny to see this post:
Followed by this one:

Well then educate me, tell us the optimal way to keep up with politics.

[MCMLXXXII]

First of all, don't use the internet as main information source. Those algorithms aren't designed to give you a broad view. Read books, about politics, history and economics. Read as many views as you can. If you switch to the internet don't use just one news site or search engine to find information.

[Fugus]

First of all, don't use the internet as main information source. Those algorithms aren't designed to give you a broad view. Read books, about politics, history and economics. Read as many views as you can. If you switch to the internet don't use just one news site or search engine to find information.

As an extension to this..

If the source has Conservative, Liberal, Patriot, Progressive, Democrat, Republican, Fox, Breitbart, or Heritage in the name, probably best to move on to something else. Check the accuracy and bias of any source you come across.

Got too many people who believe absolute batshit lies because they only use sites that lie to them and will ignore any other sites they have gotten themselves so far down that rabbit hole.

[Forogil]

First of all, don't use the internet as main information source. Those algorithms aren't designed to give you a broad view. Read books, about politics, history and economics. Read as many views as you can. If you switch to the internet don't use just one news site or search engine to find information.

There's more to the internet than search engines and "free" news sites; if you want quality information you sometimes have to pay for it - as books and actual news (many (all?) quality news papers have online subscriptions as well - see if there's one near you).

[MCMLXXXII]

There's more to the internet than search engines and "free" news sites; if you want quality information you sometimes have to pay for it - as books and actual news (many (all?) quality news papers have online subscriptions as well - see if there's one near you).

While that's true, I was referring to PC2, who let's the algorithm dictate his newsfeed.

[RaoBurning]

Everything I learned about politics I learned from here. /s

This, but completely unironically. MMO-Champ has been a great resource for watching people with global perspectives dismantle bullshit on the daily. Usually you have to pay for media dissection classes like this.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Well then educate me, tell us the optimal way to keep up with politics.

The process you described for how to get your news (rating the news you "like" more highly to get more like it) is how you get trash sources.

The last 7 years are starting to make sense now...

[Mayhem]

I want to follow politics, but I didn't pay attention to politics until 2016, and even then, I only read r/politics comments sections. I'm worried I'm too far behind to follow politics, and I might not be smart enough to understand them. There are so many news sources that I wouldn't even know where to start.

Any advice?

A good start would be to understand what political theories there are so that you can classify the arguments of politicians, to get a basic understanding would be reading up on the different isms with the three major ones first (conservatism, liberalism, socialism) and working yourself through the ranks from thereon.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Follow the money. See what the richest people that donate think and you know the direction things are going.

[tehdang]

WSJ Opinion pages and NYT Opinion pages. Free news sites for just what's happening, with whatever slant to the reporting, fills in the rest.

I can't really recommend a good substitute other than grabbing both sides of slanted political opinion in among your news browsing habits. It'll cost money for easy access; the workarounds are a little cumbersome for daily readers. Some educational institutions, should you be enrolled, will provide access.

[jonnysensible]

WSJ Opinion pages and NYT Opinion pages.

Can't stress enough that opinion writers are pure garbage and you should stick to factual reporting not some dippers thought of the week or paid op ed.