Home	Article List

The News

I’ve been watching the news quite frequently, as of late. It’s not been good for my health at all. As a citizen of the United States, things have always been politically hectic, but recently it just feels more omnipresent and persistent. Most upsetting to me is the relentless stream of pessimism. To me, it never feels like there is no hope for a better future. But that is certainly the narrative that is being pushed. Headlines are no longer blunt single-sentence descriptions of events, but statements paired with a dictation of my feelings towards the subject.

“XYZ is happening, and you should be TERRIFIED”

“Why ABC is so expensive (and why it’s only going to get WORSE)”

“The REAL reason 123 Corporation laid off 5 gazillion employees

It is not a hot take to accuse the media of taking advantage of the human instinct to seek out the negative. They are financially incentivized to do so. Something even less controversial (or at least, I hope so) is that political figures and organizations are also financially incentivized to drive clicks and views to the worst things happening at home. This is the way things have been for decades, but I do find it concerning how blatant it has become. Nothing is subtle, it’s all straightforward and blatantly intentional.

Furthermore, the lack of empathy of those who watch the news disturbs me. Like many others, I watch the news through YouTube, as most news networks, both mainstream and niche, are present and active on the platform. Looking at the comments of a YouTube video has never been a wise choice, especially if you are easily upset by the various trolling shenanigans that internet users partake in when drunk off of the power of absolute anonymity. But, once again, things have changed.

Now, the internet is filled with bots that purposefully spread hateful and outrageous comments for the sake of getting people upset. Yes, automated trolling is a very real and growing phenomenon that some even claim is state-sponsored by hostile foreign entities (source). Make no mistake, this is absolutely a form of psychological warfare. It is an attempt to deliberately induce mass hysteria in the general population, and I seriously think it is working. As bad as the bots are, I worry about the actual people who think these outrageous things, as there are certainly many of those as well.

People now regularly downplay or even mock the misfortune of others. People celebrate when political figures are assassinated. Others make any excuse they can to defend government-backed killings of civilians. I have noticed some of those I consider myself close to in my life abandon humanity and nuance in favor of comfort, people I once considered open-minded and educated. Instead, they look for a reason to blame the political affiliation of a victim as an excuse to spare themselves the trouble of showing a little empathy. If a specific political party came to your mind while I described this, then even you guilty of this mentality in some capacity.

You might tell me, “Carter, you really need to stop watching the news. And I think you are right. But I don’t think that is sufficient. Does nobody else feel the tension out there? The feeling of sadness and angst when we walk among other humans that we used to happily share the streets with? What the hell happened to us? Sure, we can say everybody just needs to step off the internet, but how on earth could we manage that? We need to do something better, some sort of antidote to the misinformation/disinformation scourge that goes above simple avoidance.

But what would it be?