You know, normally I participate in Finish the Sentence Friday from Thursday nights so it’s available to read all weekend long. This week, my heart and my body weren’t cooperating with me. I couldn’t stay awake enough to write anything substantial for one thing. My heart was torn as to what to write about on this subject. This is a Finish the Sentence Friday hosted by the wonderfully magnificent, Kristi. The sentence this week is “When it comes to the news…”
I’ve given this subject great thought over the last few days and really, the only thought that comes back to me again and again, is that I have learned to hate the news. There are no feel good stories. There are no stories of triumphs over the odds. There is only sadness, tragedy and how screwed up our country has become.
As a small child, I watched the news with my parents at dinner and again at 10 PM if I was still up. The news was always on. My parents got the newspaper and I read it. I doubt I’d read it now. For one thing, the paper is half as thick and doesn’t cover things well, at least not in our area. It also costs $300 to put a standard obituary in the newspaper here. What a crock! It was only $50 to put my wedding in 23 years ago.
These days, if by chance I turn on the news, I am bombarded with tragedy all over the world, sadness at home, and politicians enough to kick me in the butt and knock me into next Tuesday. I can read the news at my leisure on the internet, at my choosing. My husband, on the other hand, is a news junkie. He can never get enough news. He loves politics which I feel are like watching trained baboons speaking from teleprompters and hating each other. They change their minds like a fashionista changes her shoes.
So, there is my take on the news. I loathe watching it anymore. Just today, another horrible shooting that leaves 50 dead and 53 injured last I checked. Just for being gay. They couldn’t help being gay anymore than I can help the fact that I have blue eyes. Hate, Religion, it’s all intolerance and stupidity and downright hatred of humanity. That’s why I don’t want to watch the news. I’ll hear about it anyway whether I want to or not. I can’t live in a glass bubble either. It surrounds us all. Isn’t there anything that is positive in this world anymore? There used to be.
Deirdre's Daily Dose 
You are totally right, we are being bombarded with tragedy all around. Is better to stay away from the news for a while
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The news has changed so much since I was a kid – lots of the same things you mention here were true for me. I remember getting the paper and reading it – actually reading it – and then doing the puzzles, reading he comics. So different now.
I knew someone years ago who said he thought the news should work like this: “There were two fires, one robbery, and an election. Now sports…” The point is a good one – we spend far too much time on the negative, the horrible, the tragic, and far too little on the good and the human interest.
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So true! I agree wholeheartedly. There just doesn’t seem to be the human interest stories of years gone by.
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Very true. I often wonder about that.
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