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Phantom Patterns from a Salmon Pink Broadsheet
I think I just violated some kind of unspoken rule of my generation: I gave my credit card information to the website of a major news publication and told them to charge me.
(And, before I’m asked: no, I’m not a TimesSelect subscriber. God forbid.)
I’m still not sure what to think of this development. I don’t regret what I just did, but I have this vague unease, this sense that I’ve compromised my principles. Despite honestly believing that the people at this newspaper can give me news and analyses missing elsewhere, I can’t quell the little voice in my head that’s obstinately insisting, “information should be free! FREE!”
And, even more unsettling, I’m not entirely clear what criteria I used to pay for this service while still adamantly resisting paying for others. There are other magazines and newspapers, both weekly and monthly, that I could use the same argument for—but instead have chosen to go without, to get my information from elsewhere. And I can’t quite clarify what made this one different.
Sigh. Maybe I’ll feel less disquieted by this in the morning, after I’ve gotten some sleep, and stop spinning phantom patterns out of one incident, as is my past-bedtime habit. But all I have now, right now, in the present moment, is the cold knowledge that the never-ending quest to be—and remain—well-informed can easily turn expensive. And I just for resumed paying for a piece of that expensive lifestyle for the first time in years.
Here’s hoping for some clarity by morning.
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