Avoiding the Negative Media
It was about four years ago that I had had enough. No matter what was happening globally, it seemed the media had to spend its time spreading fear, unhappiness or promoting programs on their network of stations that even further spread fear and unhappiness. Enough was enough, and I tentatively started my own personal news boycott to avoid the negative media and their effects on me.
The news boycott is for all national news shows no matter what time they are on because they are focused on the most negative aspects of life. You miss nothing because the news cycle is, all the same, continually telling you how to feel, who to trust and who to dislike. A tragedy of some kind occurs, and they will milk it as long as possible. Gossip is close enough to the news. Skipping this daily barrage of negativity, you would think that I would not be able to keep up with current events or news, but that has not been the case. With Facebook, Twitter, and the radio, no major news event has gone by without me knowing almost immediately. What I got to miss was all of the wallowings in anger, gossip, ridicule, and fear-mongering that the national negative media pours onto every “news story” they cover.
A great example would be the theater shootings that took place in 2012. I heard about it, though it was awful, felt sympathy for the victims, and understood that this guy (the shooter) was obviously disturbed. “Normal” people don’t do things like that.
What I didn’t do is wallow in it. The national negative media tried to dissect the perpetrator’s life and try to understand why he would do such a thing. Talking to everyone from classmates in college and kids he went to high school with. I only know this by what others have told me, so I can’t report any first-hand knowledge of these interviews. I know that my life has been much more positive without that negative media machine spouting their “news.”
Pay Attention to the Positive ignore the Negative Media.
Every day there are positive stories of people doing good deeds and helping others live more positively. However, these stories do not even gain a mention in the vicious negative news cycle. There are, in fact, many more good people than bad in the world. More good things are happening than bad. There is just no money in reporting that things are great and wonderful. Only partial blame belongs to the media because they just provide what the market will tune in to see. A celebrity dies, nude pictures of celebrities, the public figure takes a fall, murder, terrorism are all topics that draw you in, and you watch incessantly. So until we all stop watching, there is not going to be any significant change.
Never Been More Sure of News Boycott
In this election season, I have never been surer that my news boycott has become permanent as the silly election season moves into high gear. There is an inundation of false, negative, idiotic campaign ads that do little to inform but much to scare or frighten. We can sum them up into two categories. One is that the Republicans will ruin our country if they are elected president. On the other side are the Democrats, who will ruin the country if they are elected. The negative media wins either way.
The ads are designed to make supporters mad at the opposition and experience fear about the presidential election outcome. Personally, both options are just two different sides of the
same coin, and we will experience party politics and business, as usual, no matter who wins. However, if you look at the ads observed in a vacuum, they are quite humorous. Republicans hate Democrats and each other; Democrats hate Republicans but not each other; we are all stuck in the third grade listening to the negative media.
The national news shows, I am sure, are pontificating on the positives of their candidate and spewing the fear about the opponent. Count the number of negative sentences used in an ad designed to instill fear or fear-based thinking, and it will surprise you. Not me because the media has shown that fear sells, sensation sells, and good deeds don’t make good copy. Practice your own news boycott, and you will feel a lot better about the world and put a dent in ending the negative media.
If you don’t use your mind to think your own thoughts, someone else will fill it with theirs. So take a moment and look at how things really are and what can really hurt you. Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see.
