To The Age It is well known that too much of a good thing is not good at all. Waleed Aly has correctly diagnosed this problem as manifesting in current modes of the presentation and digestion of news within our political order ("News and the apocalypse", 20/12). He notes that news too readily becomes disposable entertainment, even a sedative when really a wake-up call is needed. He laments a consequent public loss of meaning, loss of the ability to effectively comprehend and act on major political problems. An important solution he touches on is the need for a slowing down of the whole process. Traditional societies understood that it takes a very long time for a human person to acquire the wisdom that is needed for fruitful management of new challenges to public security and national well-being. These societies were hierarchical and aristocratic, not egalitarian or democratic. Perhaps we need to review our whole philosophical orientation.
Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic