It Has Nothing To Do With You
It is rare for me to do so but watching the news the other day I was struck by the fact that 80 to 90 percent of the news concerned criminal activity. For example, people who had been murdered abducted or raped, accidents that happen far far away. Wars and disputes in other countries, natural disasters and terrorist activities in other countries. In short matters that did not concern me and which had nothing to do with me. It seems the media these days are focused on shoving bad news down my throat on a continuing basis.
The effect this has on people was brought home to me when at a supermarket checkout recently the checkout person said how bad some terrorist activity had been in some other country recently. I responded with the fact that I had not really given it much attention. To which she asked if I had my head in the sand. Apart from the rudeness of the question, which I did not particularly care about, it struck me that she had made that incident her problem even though it was not.
I realized that what the media was doing was attempting to make other people's problems our problems. And they were selecting which problems to foster onto us. In fact the world is full of problems most of which we are unaware of and which have no effect upon us whatsoever. UNLESS WE ARE TOLD ABOUT THEM.
Not all news is bad however. There are some things in the news it is relevant to know about. Some simple examples include;
the weather
traffic information
new laws and regulations
people you know
Business or work related
Good news relating to your area
Activities in your area
So why is it that a murder in a country far far away is featured so heavily in the mainstream media? Quite apart from the bad news aspect, all commercial media, TV, radio, newspapers, are all owned by someone. And it is fairly well acknowledged that they carry a bias depending on who owns what. Not too long ago, for example, it was exposed that Murdoch, with his gargantuan media empire, has no love for the Australian Labor Party* His media outlets blatently put down or unmock one political party in favour of a different party. That is not news. That is opinion. And, again, it has nothing to do with you.
Most of the news you see in the media actually has nothing to do with you.
For the most part, unless you're interested in other people's problems** or are entertained by other people's woes you do not need to see, read or hear the news. You can, in fact, ask yourself if the fact that someone far far away murdered someone else has any bearing on your life? If not it is what one might call an added inapplicable problem. At best it may have entertainment value (most unlikely unless one 'likes' that sort of thing) and at worst it simply makes people feel bad. Tends to introvert them and so reduce their space by pushing in their anchor points and spreading low toned information disguised as 'news.'
Of course you are entitled to watch read or hear what you want to. Just be sure you know what it is you are actually watching, reading or hearing.
* https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/election-2019/2019/05/14/andrew-bolt-sky-news-labor/
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/10/australias-murdoch-moment-has-news-corp-finally-gone-too-far
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/by-election-bias--how-rupert-murdoch-runs-all-australias-media,11726
** a problem is postulate-counter-postulate, terminal-counter-terminal, force-counter-force. It's one thing versus another thing. You've got two forces or two ideas which are interlocked of comparable magnitude and the thing stops right there. All right, now with these two things one stuck against the other you get a sort of a timelessness, it floats in time. (SH Spec 82, 6111C21) 2 . a problem is a postulate-counter-postulate resulting in indecision. That is the first manifestation of problems, and the first consequence of a problem is indecision. (SH Spec 27, 6107C11) 3 . a multiple confusion. (SH Spec 26X,6107C03) 4 . an intention counter-intention that worries the preclear. (HCOB 23 Feb 61) 5 . a problem is the conflict arising from two opposing intentions. A present time problem is one that exists in present time, in a real universe. (HCOB 3 Jul 59) 6 . something which is persisting, the as-is-ness of which cannot be attained easily. (PRO 16, 5408CM20)
