Why Is It This Way? Societal Post Ahead.

"Censored" (chrisbrown2992) 10/12/2017 at 14:30 • Filed to: None

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I’m what many would consider a lurker and respect the OPPO community for it’s diversity in culture, race and regions. With that said, I was reading the Sploid article below and was struck by something and wanted to know why this is. Mods sorry if this is out of place, delete if necessary.

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In the article the line that bugs me is as follows, “So far, 2017 hasn’t exactly been a great year, but if you look hard enough, you’ll find the world is still filled with wonderful things.”

Really?

I’ll concede that there are plenty of negative articles and news stories to write about, but you don’t have to “look hard” to find the good stories. Why our society has such a thirst for negative stories is beyond my comprehension. There are plenty of fantastic groups that get little to no exposure that do fantastic work (habitat, Boys and Girls Club & Make a Wish to name a few). We could write a story on these every day, but that news doesn’t sell.

I guess my question is, why have we become so pessimistic?

Don’t get me wrong, there are always going to be things that suck, and we as a nation/community need to know them. I just feel that our media (all platforms) have begun to lean on shock and awe headlines for ratings alone. This isn’t fair nor healthy for anyone.

I live in the St Louis Metro area, so you can imagine what my news has been dominated with in the past 3 years, and I bet I can count on one hand the number of positive lead stories in the same time frame. If we quit consuming the negative rhetoric and hyperbole, we wouldn’t have to “look hard enough” to find wonderful stories in our communities. Apparently now, not only does sex sell, so does negativity.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > Censored 10/12/2017 at 14:33

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I’m not a mod but according to the rules of dumping a article from gawkerverse this is actually a perfect way to present it.

boxrocket > Censored 10/12/2017 at 14:33

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When the world seems to suck, I go to our kickass free zoo and look at the animals. Or Grant’s Farm. Or any of our other great places.

STL FTW.

Wacko > Censored 10/12/2017 at 14:36

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bad news has always sold more than good news. nothing new here

crowmolly > Censored 10/12/2017 at 14:39

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I guess my question is, why have we become so pessimistic?

We concentrate on the negative as it draws the most eyes. Not just cynically for “clicks” but to see the areas of life that need the most attention.

Good news tends to get buried.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Censored 10/12/2017 at 14:44

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You said it yourself: negativity sells. I think that as humans, we like to complain. And we see validation of our complaints in negative articles, and publications know this, and therefore they know that negativity generates revenue.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Censored 10/12/2017 at 14:45

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Are you saying that STLs nightly murder broadcast (aka the news) isn’t great fun?

On a more serious note, the negativity comes from the fact that we live in a country controlled by a spoiled child who hasn’t stopped throwing a temper tantrum since he took office. Also, a populous who refuses to acknowledge that the world we live in is way safer in nearly every way than it was 15, 25, 50, or 100 years ago. Instead they believe the Nancy Graces of the world who believe the sky is falling all the time.

The only existential fear we should rightfully have is that climate change is quickly going to make a lot of things a lot worse if we continue to do nothing (or if we actively make things worse).

Censored > crowmolly 10/12/2017 at 14:49

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I get it, I just hate it and wish we could change it. Constant negativity breeds more negativity.

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > Censored 10/12/2017 at 14:50

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A mix of factors, one is people focus on shock news. Another is that people seem to have a tendency when things don’t go their way, to make everything look bad so that you remember when things were better, when they got their way. Since we have a wonderfully diverse culture, there are always a lot of pissed off people. The media and politics have been playing games for so long that they have their own rules that nobody outside can even comprehend. We’re not even a player to them, just chips.

crowmolly > Censored 10/12/2017 at 14:50

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I’d say the sensationalism part dates back over 100 years. The current speed of media has made it far worse.

Regarding negativity... well, look at the most popular TV show of 2017.

ttyymmnn > Censored 10/12/2017 at 14:51

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This goes along with all the “faith in humanity restored” articles. I have always had faith in humanity. I see people doing small, wonderful things every day. I teach my boys that kindness is important, and I show it by having them see me stop to help a motorist, ask if somebody needs help, offer to carry something for somebody, etc. But, by and large, bad news sells more papers than good news. That’s why websites and cable news constantly trumpet BREAKING NEWS even when it isn’t really news. Don Henley nailed it back in the 1982 with Dirty Laundry , long before the Internet .

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > Censored 10/12/2017 at 14:55

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I think it’s borderline reckless the way some of the Gawker/GMG sites editorialize stuff. They just take an article or two from a couple news sources, and then summarize them with extremely loaded language to provoke a specific reaction.

It’s not that I have a problem with their views or opinions. It’s just I think that sort of editing diminishes the readers capacity for interpretation and replaces it with a specific intended reaction.
 

Which in my mind is morally close to, or on par, with propaganda.

Censored > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/12/2017 at 15:07

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This is so true and so sad.

Censored > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 10/12/2017 at 15:17

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If we didn’t have Dave Murry to bring some levity to the news, it would be sad.

Every president of recent memory has ruled via temper tantrums of various sorts. Some more than others, but all are guilty. Secondly, politics aside, the negativity didn’t start suddenly in November 2016.

Censored > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/12/2017 at 15:20

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prop·a·gan·da

präpand/

noun

noun: propaganda ; noun: Propaganda

1 . derogatory information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

Quadradeuce > Censored 10/12/2017 at 15:23

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You’ll start to notice that year after year you hear the same phase. “So far *current year* has been terrible...” but it’s just not true. We’ve never lived in a more peaceful and prosperous time. People who feel this way are clearly not students of history.

I have a habit of reading old books from my grandfather’s collection. A lot of them are 100-150 years old. It’s always amusing when you see that people were grappling with the exact same issues we are today. They just didn’t have this type of forum to discuss it. There’s nothing new under the sun.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Censored 10/12/2017 at 15:24

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I agree, it didn’t start in Nov 16, but that was the strange culmination of a lot of people thinking the modern world is more dangerous than the one they grew up in, even though that’s blatantly false.

Censored > ttyymmnn 10/12/2017 at 15:25

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I’ve listened to that song 100's of times and never took the time to process the lyrics. This is a perfect representation of modern news.

ttyymmnn > Censored 10/12/2017 at 15:42

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And it was written 35 years ago. Nothing really has changed, it’s just that with our computer-connected world there is just information overload. We used to watch the news for 30 minutes once a day. Now it’s a constant drumbeat of bad news, from hurricanes to fires to government to murders to you name it. Any good news gets swallowed up in the fire hose of horror.

nermal > Censored 10/12/2017 at 16:13

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From my perspective, I don’t think the US has ever been in better shape than it is now. Yes, we have things to work on, but we have always had things to work on, and always will. We’re in better shape than we were last year, or five years ago.

The economy and jobs are booming, we’re investing, technology is advancing, and despite that people are still coming together to help another when needed (aka after hurricanes).

Social media and the speed of communication it provides is both good and bad. Garbage journalism and sensationalism will always have a place in the media though, because they get attention.

DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back > Censored 10/12/2017 at 16:21

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So I don’t want to touch the politics side of all this with a 10ft pole (but don’t believe for a second there aren’t political motivations behind what you see on TV). However are 3 things I want to briefly comment on in your post.

1. Gawker Media LOVE LOVE LOVES hyperbole. Almost as much as backtracking. You typically won’t see that kind of editorializing in Reuters, BBC, Al Jazeera. (Just trying to name what I feel like are some historically impartial reporting communities.)

2. It is really really hard to observe a lot of the negativity going on in the world on a day to day basis, but I can’t even imagine how bad it would be to be in the shoes of someone affected by injustice, incompetence, etc. If I were in that situation I’d sure want people to know about it so I could get some help. Human interest stories do bring public attention which can bring in donations, volunteers, etc.

3. This is my most important point. Money. If it didn’t bring in viewership, clicks, purchases, etc. then they wouldn’t publish/broadcast it. And unfortunately, people watch negative stories. Its like watching a car accident. It’s so horrible you can’t look away. So of course the media capitalizes on that, and as time has gone on people have gotten used to it. Its routine at this point.

So unfortunately the solution isn’t totally unplug and ignore. Its better to be informed then not. But definitely limit the time spent dwelling on the negative. Its not good for your mental state. And you don’t have to “look hard” to find positive stories, you are right, but you do have to do a bit more searching than usual. You’re not the only one though, there’s a subreddit called “Uplifting News” that’s dedicated to finding positive stories. There’s no real solution other than a total shift of what the public watches.

Nibbles > Censored 10/12/2017 at 16:25

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Why have we become so pessimistic?

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Censored > DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back 10/12/2017 at 17:11

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This wasn’t a political post, but unfortunately that probably has a lot to do with it.

1. Yep.

2. Agreed, human interest stories are absolutely necessary. However the sensationalism around them isn’t and likely causes more harm to the H I story than good.

3. This is the part that frustrates me to no end. I would love to be around to see the shift in viewing.

DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back > Censored 10/12/2017 at 17:35

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I agree about sensationalizing, but the reason for that is in point #3 of course.

I’d love to see a shift in interest too, but with people being people I just don’t see it happening. One can always be optimistic though.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Censored 10/13/2017 at 06:48

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If it makes you feel any better, it’s not just an American thing.

The focus on negativity relies on you the viewer to not think that way. Rather it’s to make you feel that it’s not so bad here but are fascinated by what’s over there. You’ll click on or watch what’s happening over there...there’s ratings in that. Somehow.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > boxrocket 10/18/2017 at 16:10

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Also, City Museum.

boxrocket > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/19/2017 at 21:00

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Definitely! Pity it’s gotten so expensive the last decade. Still fun, though. My brother had his wedding reception there, and his wedding cake was Schlafly’s toffee pudding with a scoop of Ted Drewes. Mmmm...

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > boxrocket 10/23/2017 at 07:28

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Oh man... sounds amazing.