<p>is no easy task. I have tried to read TIME to understand american/world politics, but the articles talk on and on about issues where the authors assume that the readers already know the situation.</p>
<p>How do I get more informed without being so overwhelmed? I feel like I've been missing out on a whole new world. it seems fascinating, but I know not how to enter it without having some "prerequisite" information in my head.</p>
<p>what do you suggest I do?</p>
<p>bump! (10 char)</p>
<p>umm, I guess you could try watching more CNN if you want to learn about world politics. Try watching the Daily Show and Colbert Report for things simplified, but it's highly biased (then again, what isn't?)</p>
<p>Read a big-city major daily newspaper or two, every day.</p>
<p>konadian, i recommend browsing wikipedia.
also, continue to read magazines, watch the news, and keep up with newspapers. over time, things will get less confusing.</p>
<p>Try to read the news everyday from what ever source is easiest for you. In time, you'll know what's going on. Take 30 minutes a day to read about the world outside of your own. You'll do fine.</p>
<p>Get your hands on some REAL history books, not the usual antiseptic crap you find in high school. Read stuff from all ends of the political spectrum, but whatever you read, make sure it's GOOD. Well-written, brilliantly argued history really makes you understand the world more fully.</p>
<p>If you are more interested on what is happening in the world I highly suggest going to the Economist and Financial Times websites. Not all of the articles are free, but many are. They are both great news sources that focus on issues that mainstream media in the U.S. won't write more than a paragraph about.</p>
<p>Just keep reading, anything and everything. And if you have questions on a particular subject, don't hesititate to look to Wikipedia or some other source where you can find a decent explanation (including other people).</p>
<p>Read the New York Times A section every day. For the first few days, look up people and places that you don't know. Within a few days you should start becoming familiar with what is going on.</p>
<p>Take some international relations courses at your local community college during the summer or at your college you'll get a real unbiased view of the world outside the US... we are so lucky we dont even know it.</p>
<p>whatever you do, don't only become "culturally literate" from liberal sources. Get some unbiased ones (NYT, CNN, Times are all biased).</p>
<p>Uh huh. What, pray tell, is your idea of "unbiased"?</p>
<p>atomicfusion - ALL news sources are biased. But you do have a good point. Read lots of different sources that have different biases and will each present the same facts in a different light.</p>
<p>
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Uh huh. What, pray tell, is your idea of "unbiased"?
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</p>
<p>pyro, if all you do is get your news from liberally biased sources, then of course after time you'll begin to accept those sources as moderate and unbiased. Do you really think the NYT, CNN, and Times are impartial? I hope so. T'would be comical.</p>
<p>If you're implying that all news sources reflect some degree of bias, then of course you're right. But your phrasing implies that you consider other sources (WSJ? Fox News?) to be UNbiased which is frankly absurd. The NYT editorial page is usually liberal, but their news stories are not. And I really don't see how you can call CNN liberally biased - Lou Dobbs, frex, is one of the most rabidly anti-immigrant pro-protectist pundits around. </p>
<p>I don't know what "Times" is, if it's distinct from the NYT. The newspaper The Times (of London) is quite conservative.</p>
<p>Dude, if you're gonna quote the guy's question at least answer it. As for unbiased news, it doesn't exist. </p>
<p>Good news organizations just try to be as unbiased/objective as they can, being biased is just a part of being human. Anyone who tells you that there's 100% unbiased news out there is either lying or flat our wrong.</p>
<p>As for my favourite general news sources:</p>
<p>BBC
ABC (Austrialian Broadcasting Corporation)
CBC Newsworld
PBS</p>
<p>Reading wise: </p>
<p>The Globe and Mail
The African Courier
Current History
The Economist
Foreign Policy Magazine</p>
<p>"I don't know what "Times" is, if it's distinct from the NYT. The newspaper The Times (of London) is quite conservative."</p>
<p>There's also a Time magazine.</p>