Again: This Is News?

[filkertom]

There are many, many things that could be said about our pathetic mainstream media, especially newspapers and wire services and why they seem to be ready to go the way of the passenger pigeon. Those media, especially newspapers and wire services, blame the internet for a lot of their woes: competition from blogging, the expectation of getting news for free, increased productions costs and God Damn The Unions, etc., etc., etc.

I really, really don't think it's occurred to them that newspapers and wire services might be dying because, well, they suck beyond suckage.

People want to please their bosses because they don't want to get laid off? Seriously? That's all you've got, on a Sunday? That wasn't news when there wasn't a worldwide economic crisis. That wasn't news when the Pyramids were being built, and you weren't laid off, you were horsewhipped before they buried you under Slab 17A. Now that people worldwide are hurting, the only thing this "news" does is increase the general nervousness level, and show that you're completely out of touch for thinking it's "news".

Some asshat who fancies himself an editor greenlit this. You can make the excuse that there are always fluff stories, intended to fill space, especially when a more important story misses deadline. But there is so much going on right now, so much for so many years, that you'd think something substantive might possibly be reported upon.

And I'm sure that dozens of newspapers ran this column over the weekend, and patted themselves on the back for keeping people "informed".

A lot of regulars here have been having job woes lately, and I feel for all of you, and wish you all a lot of luck. There is one aspect of this mess which might possibly work out -- sometimes, when you get pushed into the pool, you can turn it into a creditable 1-1/2 gainer. If you're not there already, what's your dream job, and how close are you to actually going for it? And, if you are there already, how's it working out?

Comments

[smparadox.livejournal.com]

My "dream job" would involve winning the lottery and living off interest from the winnings. Work is not to enjoy - work is suffering in order to earn the money to live, and it sucks even when it is enjoyable. It sucks even more if anyone above you realizes there is anything enjoyable about your job, as they will take steps to remove any such aspect.

Second choice would be acting - that was fun back in High school, although making it a job would inevitably suck the fun out of it.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

There's work that is completely unfun, and fun stuff that can be done at work. There's even stuff which, if done often enough, can be tentatively classified as work, or even a career, just by default. Someone who is independently wealthy but paints for the joy of it might still be called an artist even if they never sell a single painting.

Ideally, there would be something that you really like doing, you probably wouldn't get bored with, and which it's technically possible someone might actually pay you to do.

Me, I like designing random stuff to solve problems. I'm no engineer, and actually building half of it would drive me nuts from boredom, but I like gnawing on conceptual roadblocks. I actually have a weekly meetup group which gets together to do this commercially, and it may end up making me beer money via part-ownership and patents on a couple dozen projects, but at the moment I do it for free because I like bashing away at a different problem every month and batting ideas back and forth between myself and the other group members.

I could probably see myself doing something similar for music and drawing, as well, if I ever bothered to learn how to do it better. Not making an entire career out of it, but I'd be happy to play the odd gig or sketch up the occasional commission for cash in hand.

Heck, I'm looking at doing something similar for computer support in the local area. I'm fine with solving a handful of things a week and getting a meal or gas money out of it.