The Midland Agrarian: Info Fasting

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Info Fasting

"A behavior should probably not be considered “extreme” if it was the practice of the entire human race from Adam until the mid-20^th century"

T. David Gordon

The undisputed king of agrarian bloggers, Herrick Kimball, has been on a news fast. That is a good ingredient in the recipe for a happy life.
http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2013/08/obama-wisdom-of-martha-washington.html

I must follow some pertinent local stories for my off-farm profession, but most "news" is really not relevant to my life. In fact, I think "being informed" when defined as constant contact with the 24/7 information cycle, is probably bad for our mental and spiritual health. Among the damages are attitudes that create a cult of celebrity, whether around a politician or an entertainer.

A lot of people I actually do admire seem to think the same thing.

Herrick Kimball
CS Lewis
Rev. Dr. T David Gordon
Rev. Franklin Sanders

What do they all share? They all manage to be more original, thoughtful and well read than modern norm.

I got a shock a while back when giving some visitors a tour of a few really sublime areas of western Pennsylvania. In the midst of some of nature's finest handiwork, some where checking their smartphones!

An hour a day spent on "news" can also be spent running dogs, shooting, playing fiddle, reading a real book or journal, or fishing. I know how that spent hour makes me happier. Since I spent a half hour in front of this screen typing this, its time to shut down and go enjoy a beautiful day outdoors! Hope you can do the same.

2 comments:

Herrick Kimball said...: Hi Richard,

Thanks for mentioning my blog post, and for adding some insightful comments on "info fasting." The quote from C.S. Lewis is wonderful, as is the essay by Franklin Sanders. I've yet to take a closer look at the T. David Gordon web site.

But the link that comes up when my name is clicked is off topic, and I don't even recognize the page, though it is something I wrote. I'm wondering if something isn't right there?

Best wishes,

Herrick Kimball; August 25, 2013 at 8:04 AM
The Midland Agrarian said...: Herrick,
I think I inadvertently found a spam type blog that uses your work to gin up traffic. You might be able to have the Google people take it down for copyright violations.; August 25, 2013 at 9:35 AM

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Why the Midland Agrarian?

Cultural geographers and students of dialect call the great area of the Ohio valley, upper South and lower Midwest the "midlands of the US". The midland dialect around here includes words such as "redding" for cleaning up our rooms, the "Crick" where we get fish or swim, "youns" for plural "you" and "warshing" for the laundry. Cultural artifacts from the midlands include forebay barns.

Western Pennsylvania was also once a part of the "middle ground" between the Great Lakes and the main portion of the Ohio Valley.

I chose the name "midland" agrarian to distinguish between the many fine southern agrarian writers (Like Wendell Berry), and the truly northern agrarian writers, like Russell Kirk and Eric Sloane. This was not an attempt to place myself in their company, but to recognize the unique aspects of my home country, which I love.