Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Henry David Thoreau had it right. Explaining why he paid no attention to newspapers he said, and I paraphrase, once I know that one farmer's barn has burned down, one carraige has turned over, and one cow has got on the railroad tracks and been run over I'm acquainted with the principle and don't need to be exposed to endless variations. He also refused to vote, saying that in agreeing to participate in an election where the choice was between an immoral position or a moral one, you essentially entered into a contract to accept and live with the immorality, if that's the side that won, and that made you complicit in immoral acts. Wise man, Thoreau. What would he make of the situation today, with immorality on all sides and the news media distracting the vox populi with trivia far less interesting than cows on railroad tracks.