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The Octobox

Politics for me is something of a love/hate thing. I really want the election to be over, but at the same time, it’s fodder for so much bullshit, some of it occasionally amusing. Especially news. Most of the people don’t know what they’re talking about anyway, just repeating other people’s opinions and talking points (just like me actually), but somehow they end up on the news expressing those opinions, talking and shouting over each other.

That’s why I love shows like The Daily Show, that calls people out on their bullshit. Below is a clip where one of the news channels had eight people, in eight different boxes on the screen at the same time, hence the name Octobox (at least that’s what The Daily Show calls it). They have since aired a newscast with 10 people simultaneously. Where does it end and how is this useful to me as a viewer when all I hear is noise? Maybe I’m just particularly bad at multitasking, but I usually understand best when listening to one person talking at a time.

This has been one of my biggest complaints about news here in the US. There are very few channels here where people don’t yell and scream at you as a viewer. I’m not sure if it has something to do with their mics, or their hearing, or vocal cords, but they all seem to think that if they’re not screaming, we can’t hear them. The viewers are idiots that need to have the news repeatedly pounded into their heads.

This is a good reason why I retreat to Swedish news once in a while to hear someone talk at you in a normal tone of voice, even as the sky is falling and the world is about to end. It’s also nice to listen to debates where people don’t talk over each other and with 10 people on the screen at once, they’re making sure that will never happen here…

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