Comments on: When Will We Stop Being Scared? http://www.j2fi.net/2007/09/30/when-will-we-stop-being-scared/ Battling Imaginary Windmills Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:14:47 +0900 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jason http://www.j2fi.net/2007/09/30/when-will-we-stop-being-scared/comment-page-1/#comment-506 Jason Sun, 30 Sep 2007 07:39:49 +0000 http://www.j2fi.net/2007/09/30/when-will-we-stop-being-scared/#comment-506 The Y2K issue was certainly cause for concern, but it did not warrant the amount of hype that it received. Y2K affected businesses, not the typical consumer. Most operating systems at the time were already configured to understand that "00" meant "2000" rather than "1900". Aside from advanced accounting package updates, most consumers would have been content being told to double-check their monthly invoices and receipts for purchases to ensure accuracy. Most of the world's most important systems are running some type of Unix OS, anyways, which is immune to Y2K (it's 2038 we need to keep an eye on). Your other examples are right on, though. I haven't quite given up on following the news, yet, but I am seriously considering giving up on North American news outlets. It seems that the BBC and Australian news outlets are the only services that ever report positive or otherwise good news :???: The Y2K issue was certainly cause for concern, but it did not warrant the amount of hype that it received. Y2K affected businesses, not the typical consumer. Most operating systems at the time were already configured to understand that “00″ meant “2000″ rather than “1900″. Aside from advanced accounting package updates, most consumers would have been content being told to double-check their monthly invoices and receipts for purchases to ensure accuracy. Most of the world’s most important systems are running some type of Unix OS, anyways, which is immune to Y2K (it’s 2038 we need to keep an eye on).

Your other examples are right on, though. I haven’t quite given up on following the news, yet, but I am seriously considering giving up on North American news outlets. It seems that the BBC and Australian news outlets are the only services that ever report positive or otherwise good news :???:

]]> By: Nick Ramsay http://www.j2fi.net/2007/09/30/when-will-we-stop-being-scared/comment-page-1/#comment-505 Nick Ramsay Sun, 30 Sep 2007 06:04:57 +0000 http://www.j2fi.net/2007/09/30/when-will-we-stop-being-scared/#comment-505 This fearmongering is the reason I've almost entirely stopped watching or following the news. The millenium bug was a great example of scaring people into spending money to upgrade their computer systems. The "War on Terror" gives governments an excuse to increase their military/defense budgets. People jump on these fears to benefit themselves. If you sell home security systems, your sales speech will play heavily on the fear of a break in, otherwise you'd never sell anything! What amazes me is why people can't see that. Why are people so gullible to believe everything they see on the news, when it's all just propaganda. This fearmongering is the reason I’ve almost entirely stopped watching or following the news. The millenium bug was a great example of scaring people into spending money to upgrade their computer systems. The “War on Terror” gives governments an excuse to increase their military/defense budgets. People jump on these fears to benefit themselves. If you sell home security systems, your sales speech will play heavily on the fear of a break in, otherwise you’d never sell anything! What amazes me is why people can’t see that. Why are people so gullible to believe everything they see on the news, when it’s all just propaganda.

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