Is it just me or are things actually bad at multiple levels these days?

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Whipping people up in a fervor 24/7 is both profitable and politically useful. Try watching PBS Newshour and seeing what real bad news looks like with kids literally starving to death. Things here is the USA are comparatively great.
 
Voltaire gave us the answer in 1759, in the last line of his novel Candide - "we must cultivate our garden" ("il faut cultiver notre jardin") - an injunction that I take both literally and metaphorically. There is so much wrong in the world that it could destroy me to think about it every waking moment. The vast majority of it does not affect me directly and, even if it does, is normally not within my control. So I try to focus on the things that are close at hand - my family, my home, and my garden. I cannot solve the problems of the world, but I can grow a pretty tasty tomato.
 
2HOTinPHX said:
Yes I think things have gotten a lot more scary out there and not much we can do about it. Sometimes it seems like the crazies have taken over the world but perhaps it just that they get more exposure with the 7000 TV stations and the Internets and all that algorithm crap helping to direct them to us.

When I need a break I will watch fun heartwarming stuff on youtube....like this..makes me smile everytime.....:D
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Awesome!! Thanks for sharing!!:dance:
 
I think we have lots more information sources, many of which pretend to carry news as they make more money when people read/watch/listen to it.
Nothing like FEAR to make people pay attention.

So on the TV/internet it doesn't matter there is always a lot of bad stuff in the world.

Now we are more connected and cursed by the information age.

Back when I was a kid, around 250,000 African kids starved to death every year, maybe more. I heard about a couple of times a year. If there was a shooting in a school, I never heard about it, and it never affected me, just as now it does not change my life, except I lock the doors more now.
Now I hear LOTS of bad news unless I turn off the devices and don't visit websites. Even then some leaks in.
 
Thanks for posting this thread. I came here just after reading about the Chicago shooting of 47 people, 9 dead. Seems like I can hardly keep track of these mass shootings (those poor little 4th graders in Texas! how dreadful). And if it's not one thing, it's another - - I've completely forgotten about monkeypox, peanut butter, blackouts, famine, and nuclear war with so many other bad things on our horizons. :eek:

At least now I know it's not just ME who has been sort of thrown for a loop lately! :2funny:

"This too shall pass." I firmly believe in that. It simply can't, and won't go on like this forever. We've been through a lot in our lives already. Life goes on.
 
I can't ever remember a time like now. Perhaps it is age catching up to me, my previous military experiences, or my educational training over the years. Always trying to optimize every situation and looking at all the different courses of action really puts a damper of care free living.

But for sure I have a healthy mistrust of anyone or anything that tries to tell me they are "here to help" or have summarized information for me to absorb. I think I am just fine doing it myself. I now look at alternate new sources from around the globe and spend time time talking to people on the ground via ham radio to get first hand information on what they are seeing.

My YouTube algorithm is so one sided that its hard to find other information. Maybe I need to develop a complete 180 degree profile that would allow me to access other information. While we have made great strides in some areas I think we have sure lost in areas of self resilience and critical thinking. I sure miss the days when my biggest worry was W2R saying weeee!!!

Now back to the happy dog videos.
 
Back in the late 50’s/early 60’s the Kingston Trio thought things were pretty bad, too…

 
Lets also not forget there are some who turned the lemons into lemonade the past few years of craziness. Hat off to parents like the ones in this video...:flowers:

 
steelyman said:
Maybe retirees are more susceptible to this feeling because they have (maybe) a lot more time on their hands and absorb more media coverage (standard and social).

I admire those members who have discovered or increased other pursuits in their new-found lives. Beyond endless perusing/tinkering with their financial spreadsheets.
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Ummmm...I think you just described me to a "T".

Did you somehow find a way to hack into my home video network and watch me? :)

OK, I'll admit..I'm a news JUNKIE. I spend way too much time reading my favorite sites and Twitter. And watching my favorite news channel. (Also spend WAAAAAY too much time tinkering with my financial spreadsheets..ugh!)

My (dearly departed) Dad had it right..never paid attention to the news. I'd bring up a topic, and he'd basically shrug it off. Did not care. Asked why - he basically told me.."can't do anything about it anyway, so why worry about it?" Dad had a pretty good quality of life, even though he didn't have "much" (money). Lots of time doing the things he wanted. Seemed to really enjoy and get every bit out of life..

Sometimes our parents had some pretty good insight..unless any of us plan to run for office, there truly isn't "much" we can do to change any of the "big" issues - unfortunately. And I agree, much of it does indeed suck in a big, never-seen-before way. We are truly living in "coo coo for Cocoa-Puffs" times and I'm honestly not entirely convinced any of us are gonna make it that many more years down the road before God hits CTRL-ALT-DEL and just reboots the entire mess.

ETA - as I think it's 50/50 (or less) that this messed up country/messed up world makes it even 10 more years..why do all of us spend so much time planning for the future? Hmmmm....
 
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dvalley said:
I don't recall this much doom and gloom ever before but maybe because I never paid much attention to the news before or the news wasn't as easily accessible and tailored by the algorithms. I mean everything from the daily crime, looting and violence reports in the news media, the impending famine and plot to thin the global population theories from the 'preppers', to de-dollarization and 'the new world order' theories to other topics prob forbidden from being discussed here.
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Yes. The algorithms. The more you look at and watch doom & gloom stories, the more the algorithms start to give you more doom and gloom stories because they are determining that this is what interests you. It's a feedback loop. You can fix this yourself in a number of ways that other responders have already pointed out.

Cheers.
 
I don't watch much for US news because they tell you what they want the news to say. Not all the same news is created equal is my problem with news.

With all the troubles and things happening it still a big difference between news presenters and how they want you to hear it.
 
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I watch the news... but I try to limit it. In part because "BREAKING NEWS" is often the same story they covered the day before.... not just similar, but the exact same incident. So why watch on repeat... Watch 30 minutes of local, and about 30 minutes of national... And maybe check an online alternative local news site.

By varying the sources I feel like I get a better overall view... It's not good news, because "If it Bleeds, It leads!"... but I'm not overwhelmed.
 
This might be a surprising pick-me up. I finished it a few weeks ago. A long but I thought interesting read. The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined October 4, 2011 by Steven Pinker . It might surprise you.

"Believe it or not, today we may be living in the most peaceful moment in our species' existence. In his gripping and controversial new work, New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows that despite the ceaseless news about war, crime, and terrorism, violence has actually been in decline over long stretches of history. Exploding myths about humankind's inherent violence and the curse of modernity, this ambitious book continues Pinker's exploration of the essence of human nature, mixing psychology and history to provide a remarkable picture of an increasingly enlightened world."

I am currently reading his book Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters. I am hoping it will guide me to better analysis. So far, I think it is helping.
 
^^^That is a good book savory, I read it and recommend it.
 
I watched a CNN series about the 70’s and realized that that decade was incredibly violent and tumultuous. After having lived through that I consider current events, while frustrating, rather ho-hum
 
I listen to NPR, CBC and BBC first thing in the morning. Unless something earth shaking that affects me has happened that's it for the day.

IMHO, listening to more than 20 minutes of the news on TV or radio, or worse yet, listening to news talk radio shows, is an addictive, unhealthy behavior.

I can go all day to normal places (coffee shop, grocery store, hardware store, parks, etc.) and never hear a thing about Johnny and Amber, or how these people who disagree with me are no good bums, sanctimonious people who are never wrong, etc. Yet, 30 minutes of the evening news is saturated with these disgusting people as though their hostile, nasty, self-centered behaviors are the norm for society.

Instead of wasting time listening to news and talking heads, which is an fruitless exercise in frustration, every month I send a few emails regarding issues I feel strongly about to my appropriate elected representative. Some consider that a waste, but not me. For example, my Congress person is now having second thoughts about a certain issue in the news. I think she finally got the message (from me and others) that making chumps out of the majority just to get a short-term pat on the back from a loud minority is not a good way to get reelected.

The emails take about 1-2 hours a month, compared to 15-30 hours a month or more of listening to the 'news'.

Like my old grandpappy used to say, "Champ or chump. You make the difference."
 
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dvalley said:
I don't recall this much doom and gloom ever before but maybe because I never paid much attention to the news before or the news wasn't as easily accessible and tailored by the algorithms. I mean everything from the daily crime, looting and violence reports in the news media, the impending famine and plot to thin the global population theories from the 'preppers', to de-dollarization and 'the new world order' theories to other topics prob forbidden from being discussed here.
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Wow, all those things you mentioned, and none of them are at the top of the list of the things I would have named, starting off with soaring inflation, which has already caused me personally to delay retirement and is causing struggles for many people. Everyone knows this, of course. I won't bother adding to the doom news list, further.

But imagine all the bad and depressing news, and at the same time, being hit with an incurable chronic medical condition that causes depression, major insomnia, and difficulty concentrating on anything.
 
dvalley said:
I don't recall this much doom and gloom ever before but maybe because I never paid much attention to the news before or the news wasn't as easily accessible and tailored by the algorithms. I mean everything from the daily crime, looting and violence reports in the news media, the impending famine and plot to thin the global population theories from the 'preppers', to de-dollarization and 'the new world order' theories to other topics prob forbidden from being discussed here.
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two articles appeared in our local paper last week. the first concerned the coming "end of days"...famine, collapse of the energy grid, etc. much was written about the energy grid collapsing leaving us all in the dark to die. very bleak, very dark. the other, a few days later, was how our governor would like to incentivize people to buy electric cars. that article referenced Pres.Biden's remarks about we're in a great transition to electric cars. no mention of how a grid supposedly on the verge of collapse can power all of the new electric cars let alone our air conditioners.
 
Jerry1 said:
Well there was that thing called the depression that trailed into WWII. That was a pretty bad time. More recent, the late 70’s through the early 80’s were pretty rough. Crime was bad, there was “stagflation”, mortgage interest rates were double digits and so was unemployment.

This moment in our lives may indeed be one of the rougher times, but I take solace in believing it could always be worse, and probably was at some point.

Being a news junkie, I’ve struggled with the idea of turning off the news, but I do try to focus on what matters to me - the weather forecast.
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I could spend an hour giving examples why things are much worse today but why bother. IMO, we always had many of the issues that are troubling today, what we did not have was 24 X 7 news competing for ratings. Things have always been bad or corrupt but for the most part we probably didn't know about these things. Also society has become more base and violent than say 50 or 80 years ago but evil has always existed, maybe they didn't report on gorgy events like today and they sure didn't have all the outlets for news like today.

I stopped watching the network news about 15 years ago, I won't say why but it was apparent what I was being fed. Anyone remember a 60 minute long TV special "news" program that was called The Guns of Autumn? IIRC it was on CBS. I was knowledgeable about the topic and I was confused by the total BS I was seeing on that show as it was clearly not factual, it was the 1st time I started to question the legitimacy of "the news".

Today I record the local news at 6 pm just to be aware of what is happening in the state but I often FF through most of it as it's trash and propaganda, basically I want to see the weather forecast. Since I cut myself off from "the news" I am happier, besides I can't do anything about anything so why get upset?
 
I only watch the news on TV maybe once a week or so. I do read about different things on the computer and watch some news videos.

I agree that especially the violence seems totally out of control.

I have not been sleeping well, since the TX school massacre. It breaks my heart that anyone could harm a child.

I actually googled ways to calm your mind. I am going to try to fill my mind with good thoughts to try to replace the evil.
 
rk911 said:
two articles appeared in our local paper last week. the first concerned the coming "end of days"...famine, collapse of the energy grid, etc. much was written about the energy grid collapsing leaving us all in the dark to die. very bleak, very dark. the other, a few days later, was how our governor would like to incentivize people to buy electric cars. that article referenced Pres.Biden's remarks about we're in a great transition to electric cars. no mention of how a grid supposedly on the verge of collapse can power all of the new electric cars let alone our air conditioners.
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Bolding mine. Do you think your local paper is somehow responsible for setting national or worldwide policy on energy or anything else? My guess is that they report on different events that are occurring and carry various opinion pieces, some that clash with one another. One can use that information to interpret what is happening and make decisions based on that information and other information that you obtain from reliable sources.
 
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