“Should I Follow the News?” Part 2: My Thoughts on Thoreau’s Arguments

In Part 1 we read through an excerpt from Thoreau’s "Life Without Principle," identifying eight arguments. In Part 2, I share my thoughts on these arguments and how they might apply to my life.

The Torah Content for the remainder of July has been sponsored by the Lichters in honor of Jonny Schneeweiss "for being Jonny."

A link to a printer-friendly version of this article can be found at the very end, for paid subscribers only.

MetaAI’s response to the prompt “/imagine a black and white photo of Thoreau standing outside of his cabin holding an iPhone” after NUMEROUS failed or inadequate attempts

“Should I Follow the News?” Part 2: My Thoughts on Thoreau’s Arguments

A few notes before we begin Part 2:

1. Think of this as more of an afterthought or follow-up to Part 1 than a completely new article. I had planned to conclude Part 1 this way, but the article was already too long, and I wanted Thoreau’s words to stand on their own before I added my two cents.

2. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I’ve followed the news more closely during this past week and a half than I have all year. To be fair, a lot has been happening lately: former president Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt, current president Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, and the threat of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah continues to loom large. I don’t really think that changes anything. I just felt that I had to come clean.

3. I decided to write this from scratch in one day. If it seems unpolished compared to my usual articles, that’s why. I’ve been procrastinating writing this for too long, and it’s time to just get this out and be done with it.

I concluded Part 1 with a summary of the eight arguments I gleaned from Thoreau’s Life Without Principle. I’ve grouped these arguments by theme into three clusters. There is some overlap between the clusters, but that is to be expected, since they were all derived from the same source. Here are my thoughts on Thoreau’s arguments.