Having a hyper-connected civilization is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, we have been able to share knowledge and ideas at an unprecedented rate, which has certainly advanced the technology of our world. On the other hand, we have been able to share stories of misery and fear wider than what is prudent.
Many people are reluctant to consider humankind as a global civilization, but these people are constantly bombarded by news (almost always bad) from other countries around the world. Even more common, is the reporting of news across our country, again, almost always bad. I seems it has become normal to worry and fret and become angry over people and situations that we have no connection to and will never have any connection to.
A shooting here, a dying child there, animals running from a wildfire, record cold temperatures way up there. These things don’t matter. They are daily trivia and conversation starters. They do not have an impact on a national scale. Yet, the news is full of these stories every single day.
It is not helping that the news is becoming more entertainment-oriented. Fox News is moving towards more of op-ed reporting, instead of reporting the news, they have a personality delivering their opinion and analysis of the news.
In discussing what I felt as strange about my workplace leaving the news channel playing the Boston bombing all the time and my co-workers streaming live news at their desk on the manhunt for the bomber, I created a really long sentence. No, seriously, it was suspected that these people who were glued to the news coverage were trying to feel connected to a national tragedy, like “where were you when 9/11 happened”? I can’t really understand why it takes an event of misery to make people feel more connected. And oddly, it doesn’t really work that way when the event is local. In those cases, people tend to shut themselves in.
Think local, do local, care local. Those are the people that really matter. And if we all do that, everyone is covered.
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