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Fricken smile already and STFU!!! :p (pg. 10)
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| DJ Mikey Mike |
Theresa in naivety shocker.
Ooo 'naivety.' Very negative. Get a grip. |
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| paranoik0 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Theresa
As many of you know, and for those of you who don't, I do not watch television.
For the most part, I am generally sheltered and out of the loop when it comes to current events. Many people disagree with my choice to do this, some think it makes me stupid or ignorant, and that is fine. You are allowed to believe whatever you'd like.
Personally, I feel it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. It has been about 3 years that I have been consistently avoiding mass media, and I can honestly say that the difference in my level of happiness now vs. when I was in the know is extreme.
Anyway, with that said, you can make the assumption that I am NOT NOT NOT desensitized to things like war, death, etc. These things strike a strong reaction from me, often to what seems to be an unusual extreme to others who are regularly exposed to this kind of material.
This morning, on my way out for school, I passed an apartment with the daily newspaper sitting in front of the door. The headline read something like, "###### Canadians Dead!"
When I came home this afternoon, I accidentally came across an article in regards to the war in Israel.
This is a lot of exposure for me, so I started to think a lot about the news in general and how awful it really is. My roomie and I sparked a discussion, and with the topic on our minds, he decided to watch the news on TV to see what the mass population is being told.
Feeling frustrated with the negativity and the general stupidity of the human race, I decided to prove my own point and count how many times a negative word or phrase was said vs. positive things.
Immediately within the first 5 minutes, I had heard over 80 negative words and phrases, and only a mere 9 positive things (which most of the time were countered with something negative).
Quickly tiring of this, I decided to make a list of the actual words and phrases. This was what I got out of 10 mins. worth of the news:
Death
Military threats
Attack
Mass fatalities
Mass evacuation
Canadian escape - many want out!
Targeted by air strikes
Destroyed by missiles
Not happy w/ slow pace
Escalating crisis
Conflict
Attacks on Israel
Rejected cease-fire
Rockets fell
Canons failed
Symbol of battle
Braced for rockets
Shattered homes, bodies and nerves
"Must hit them hard in the head"
War
Kidnapped
Fury
Rally nation
Guerilla fighter
Civilian casualties
Public bitterness
Terror
Unjustified
Grieving
Meltdown
Seriously, this is only what I could catch, not to mention, many of these were repeated!
The masses are listening to these types of things on a daily basis, feeding their minds with negative images, thoughts and feelings. People in general are narcissistic and pessimistic; the depression rates are enormous, and suicides are common.
We're living in an ugly world with a lot of terrible things, and I think too much exposure to all of the unpleasant facets of our species is damaging to ourselves as a people. We are afraid and angry, and we are lashing out at each other. The anger and aggression being expressed by our culture is overwhelming. You can even witness it here on TA; people making personal attacks on others, attempting to hurt one another.
We’re becoming spiteful, and enjoy watching the suffering of others. How many of you can say you haven’t laughed at someone else’s misfortunes? Why do we revel others tragedies?
This isn't right.
After only 15 minutes of watching the news, I am feeling upset, angry, and defeated. It makes me lose all faith in humanity when I see little children being dragged out of destroyed homes; militia brutally shooting down innocent people. It’s sickening, and disheartening. |
The media seems to believe negative news will generate more viewing shares and therefore spit out a ton of it. That's true, well spotted. Now what are your suggestions to change it?
| quote: | | Open your eyes people. We are our own worst enemy, and we need to change this! We, the young people who will soon be the adults running this culture, need to fight against this garbage, and instead fight for what is right. Let’s not run this country as a bunch of war mongering, vengeful people. Let’s work together to make this place better for our children, and our children’s children. The only way we can make a difference is if we act, and what better time than now? |
Yeah yeah, all cute and nice. Act by exactly doing what? |
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| colonelcrisp |
Theresa, your ideas arent all that new to me, one of my good friends has the same kind of idea...... she is a bit of a new age hippie, and at one point was a big time candi kid..... and has been brought to tears by cnn before....
she likes to view everythings through their potential and sunshine and rainbows and that stuff. not that she is wrong in doing so, but lets face it the weather sucks sometimes, and somewhere int he world there is always going to be a storm.
violence and war is never a good thing, but it will always be there. religious zealots, morons and lunatics all sportin AK 47's will always be somewhere shooting things. and no amount of sunshine and rainbows reasons with these kinds of people like large scale bombing campaigns does.
there is a time and place for diplomacy, and there is a time and place for the old "fight fire with fire" |
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| astroboy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Theresa
I am sorry, I don't get the point.
My point was that:
negativity = angry, bitchy people
positivity = happier, pleasant people
I make sure to practice being positive and pleasant as much as I can. I think that translates often onto TA even.
P.S. I am a recycling fanatic :D |
Generally I consider myself a positive person. I think peace is something everyone should strive towards. I think negativity and cynicism is something that people should avoid.
You stated that the negativity in news translates to negative attitudes in people. Your solution to this is to avoid news altogether. Is this what you think the solution is for society or are you proposing something else?
You are being clear and I'm not asking you to be clearer. I would just like you to suggest a concrete solution.
Another thing is it is one thing to be desensitized to violence and tragedy, but another to be so sensitive as not to be able to participate in a relatively civil debate over an issue.
Whatever someone's approach to positivity/negativity, I think there is something wrong when you can't engage in a critical discussion of your viewpoints without getting upset.
Positivity is a powerful thing, but solutions to the world's problems will never be achieved without informed debate. |
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| wizniz |
| im pretty insensitive |
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| StanVoid |
| come on people let's be people now come on people let's drive hybrids now come oooooon people |
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| StanVoid |
| quote: | Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
hmmmm, were we having an argument??? that generally entails more than just one person spouting opinions and me shooting them down. you havent answered a single one of my questions.
as for my presentation on here- i love football (soccer). love it. the world cup is the biggest sporting event for me. im positive about football. i love watching it. i love respecting other people that watch it. and i love hating the teams that beat mine. now, if you think thats a negativity, perhaps i should follow all the teams so i can always be a winner, or better yet, not watch it at all so i wont get sad when my team gets knocked out? :rolleyes:
yes, your ideas are better suited to 6 year olds coz they dont have the developed mind to understand what youre saying is largely ridiculous.
you should go live at a hippy commune. your ideas would be more popular there. thus far you have put forward some lovely ideas without any means of implementing any of them. its really easy to sit there and say 'lets just love and respect each other' without showing a single POSITIVE idea of how to implement this, especially in contexts where that is just an impossibility (ie between states at war).
so, instead of getting high and naming your children 'sunflower' or 'windchime', propose some realistic means by which to effect these wonderful changes you believe are so important to our planet.
ideas without action are pointless. or 'the philosophers have merely interpreted the world- the point is to change it' -karl marx. |
what an awesome post.
sunflower and windchime :haha: :haha: |
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| zenperson |
| quote: | Originally posted by jdat
Knowledge is the only way out for problem solvers.
What you're doing there is shutting yourself out to the outside world and making sure your little bubble remains intact and unpenetrable.
Good job on working so hard to stay so damn ignorant. 
In other words what I think you're doing is pretty damn selfish.
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+1... If the real world makes you depressed, welcome back to the real world. |
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| lücid |
i can't believe this thread made it this far without the MS Paint image of Theresa hugging the Earth.
:wtf: |
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| colonelcrisp |
way to go you ruined it. now someone is going to post taht pic and it wont be nearly as funny!
you should have stepped up and posted it yourself....... |
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| lücid |
| quote: | Originally posted by colonelcrisp
way to go you ruined it. now someone is going to post taht pic and it wont be nearly as funny!
you should have stepped up and posted it yourself....... |
i'm way to lazy to dig through old threads to find it, but it's perfect for this thread! :p |
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| colonelcrisp |
| your lucky your not in the army, or a line like htat would have just volunteered you!! |
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