NewsGoth Condensed (if you know you know)
Taggart 
While everything is indeed horrible, you are not obligated to solely focus on the horror. The availability of a constant stream of bad news does not make that news valuable by itself. Paying constant attention is not "doing something." So if the information isn't actionable, filter it.
Mastodon's ability to warp a post to something you want to respond to instead of what was said is unparalleled. Twitter may have created the waffles/pancakes phenomenon, but good lord have you people perfected it.
Brahms@mttaggart I appreciated the original post and moved on, but after that post I was curious and boi are you right, some of these answers really take a long stretch in "interpreting" your post ...
back in my teaching days I always mentioned (with a spoon of sarcasm) that the only requirement for enrolling in university is having the ability to read
Mark Koek@mttaggart I was recently jumped on in much the same way. Twitter-level strawman aggression. Shame because I liked the lack of that here.
Axomamma
Sven ๐@mttaggart To be fair, as of now, your post has 250+ favs and boosts. From what I can see, there are two, maybe three, initial replies that are going in the mentioned direction.
On any other platform, I'd consider this an outstandingly good signal-to-noise ratio. ๐
@Sven It's doing well on Bluesky as well without any of this kind of strawmanning
As someone whose posts routinely do well on Fedi, trust me: nobody does grievance-posting better.
@mttaggart Personally, I notice these kinds of replies/arguments pretty much everywhere, but in way higher frequency than here, both for my and other people's posts. More hostility, too. "Quality" of them might be higher here, though, so maybe Fedinauts do them "best". ๐
As an example, I've had a post on Bluesky recently that had a whopping two likes and a single three-post reply arguing against something that was only remotely in the same context as the original post.
I wonder where these differences in perception stem from or if it's ultimately "just" about milieus.
Chilly 
@mttaggart
Fucking mood right there. I think we all need to hear it.
Fucking mood right there. I think we all need to hear it.
cyanautik ๐
@chillybot @mttaggart some days more than others.
NosirrahSec ๐ดโโ ๏ธ guillotine enthusiast@mttaggart that's why I'm out punishing my body into giving me endorphins.
Michael Stanclift
MinmiTheDino@mttaggart I have a friend who *just* had a baby and was feeling bad for not knowing what was going on in the world at all.
And I said basically what youโre saying: what could you possibly do with that information if you had it???
Take in what you can use. Leave the rest.
Adam Williams@minmi @mttaggart The old "Cone of Concern". Especially among my younger friends (I am old), I am tempted to try to make the old cone have a comeback; they really need it.
Oh wow I hadnโt seen this before! This is excellent.
alt: a graphic showing a 3D cone. At the top is a red arrow pointing at the tip of the cone that reads โyou are hereโ. There is a shaded region across a first small section of the cone that reads โthings over which you have some controlโ. A shaded region just below it reads โthings over which you have influenceโ. A final shaded region reads โthings over which someone you are connected to has influenceโ most of the cone is unshaded. Pointing at the largest section of the cone is an arrow that reads โeverything else happening in the world.โ To the left is a large double sided arrow pointing up and down with the words โvalue of knowledgeโ. The top of the arrow, aligned with the tip of the cone, reads more , the bottom reads less. A box of text at the bottom reads โthe purpose of knowledge is to inform choices; thus the value of knowledge is related to your ability to make choices related to the topic.โ
Hugs4friends โพ๐บ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ท
@Tooden @mttaggart Theyโre so adorable! I want to hold one.
@ClickyMcTicker I follow Hourly Ferret/Ferret Every hour bots, and Hourly Otter bot. Timeline cleansers are a must. @mttaggart
Jay@mttaggart Itโs like pain.
Pain associated with a wound or disease is a terrible but important informational tool and can deter further damage. Did an action hurt? Thatโs the signal to stop.
But nothing good comes of pressing on a bruise. What action does it inspire or inhibit? What information do you gain? An undefined sense of obligation to witness each and every horror doesnโt help those affected, including yourself. Itโs just pressing your thumbs deeper into the bruise.
Nova๐งโจ@mttaggart yep... I can influence technology (specifically XR) so that news I pay attention to... the rest I try to be aware of through friends filtering it for me to stuff I can handle without emotional breakdown (which is very unproductive)
ืื ื ืืื โข Hanan Cohen@mttaggart This is true when you are not the news. When Iran bombs you with ballistic missiles, paying constant attention saves your life.
@mttaggart I stand corrected. Missed that.
kundu ๐ฑ๐ป๐ง@hananc @mttaggart try not to start a war next time
@kundu @mttaggart Peace to all.
Neo Ehproque@hananc @mttaggart that's why they said "if the information isn't actionable".
Does your government not sound alarms or anything?
@ehproque I misread and missed that part of the port.
xs4me2A true wordโฆ
Porru 
@mttaggart don't focus on bad things
Jude๐ต๐ธ@mttaggart Sure. But blithely carrying on about the minutiae of your daily life while ppl are suffering big time, and not acknowledging that suffering even once, is disrespectful and akin to fiddling while Rome burns... IMO.
Plsik (born in 320 ppm) ๐จ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ@sister_ratched @mttaggart That's right. And each time the boundary is different, some are resistant, some are more anxious. Closing my eyes and pushing out anything that makes me anxious is wrong. Letting a barrage of bad news destroy you is also wrong. We all have to find that line.
@plsik @mttaggart Yep. But total denial? No.
@sister_ratched @mttaggart Exactly. I'm not gonna close my eyes.
ToweroftheArchmage@sister_ratched @mttaggart to be fair, people have always been suffering big time.
Ciarรกn McNally@mttaggart I encourage my American followers to mute or unfollow me because I am never going to shut up about or ignore their war crimes, especially when the majority of you seem to get very preachy and privileged when talking about your enemies like they aren't also just normal people.
The most American response to harsh reality and the most privileged thing you can possibly do, is by choice ignore the crimes of your own state.
@ciaranmak Don't think I was suggesting that.