Why Are We Attracted To Bad News?

              A question was posed to me the other day: Why do we only see bad news on the t.v. and in the newspapers? First, the news does not just present us with bad news, most nights they do have a positive story. The fact is that we are not attracted to the good news. So the question should have been phrased: Why are we only attracted to negative news? The answer can be found in our ancestors.

                In the early days of human existence there were all sorts of different dangers. One such event could have been rustling in a bush (so scary). There are two different assumptions that would occur to people. One would be that there is no danger and it is just the wind. The other person would assume the worst and would avoid the area. The logical conclusion is that the people that continuously thought it was just wind would die out, because there would eventually come across danger that they did not assume. The more cautious people would survive.

                We are descendants of the cautious people. The people that were worried about the danger. The people that were interested when others were telling them bad news. This bad news helped them survive. Now today the bad news still helps us survive. When we hear about a child rapist we are more protective of our children and end up saving them from a situation that would have otherwise been tragic. When we hear about a wreck on the way to work we avoid that road and come to work on time. Good news is nice to hear, but it is not essential to survive, therefore we do not desire to hear it naturally.

                What can we do with this knowledge?  A wise man once said, “The truth will set you free”. Instead of embracing the idea that bad news is always bad, we should share in spreading out warnings to one another. There are two purposes of spreading this knowledge. First, it will help create a society or an environment where people are aware of issues and therefore help each other. Second, when we hear of an injustices we should fight for justice. In doing this we create a just and safe environment where knowledge and freedom can freely flow.  

Fountainhead

Fountainhead is an organization that...well how about a video to explain.

Top Story: Principle on the Run

                In the town of Greensville, there was a principal that ran away from the local authorities. He is wanted for sexual assault and stealing. This man has been the principal in Greensville high school for 20 years. Many people in the community were completely shocked to find that this man was capable of these actions. Some are denying that it is even possible and that it must be a mistake. But do you? Let’s be honest you are not that shocked. You have come accustomed to hearing these horror stories. Teacher raped students, students bullied kid to suicide, student shoots 20 children; have become a normal in America’s media empire. So the question begs: Why is this happening? How did we get like this? Has it always been this way? Can we fix it?  

                I do not like to use the word society, because it shifts blame from individuals to an arbitrary group of people.  So I am going to say individuals and dare I say educators, have desensitized our sense of morality. We have become a people that no longer stand by our principles. The only principle that we have been taught is that there is no absolute truth, because everything is relative. It has become immoral to be moral. The world extremist is a negative word in our culture, but what does it really mean? Consistent. An extremist is someone who will not compromise his principles. He stands by them no matter what the pressure of the masses are and it does not matter how much money is thrown at him. He is someone that will not back down and will do anything to change the course of evil.

                 Compromise is looked at as the ultimate principle. We become upset with congress when they do not pass laws, but what we fail to understand is that when they start comprising they start creating thousands of new laws. For example, the Affordable Health Care Act has over 20,000 pages of new regulation. There was no compromise here. One group got what they wanted and the other group signed off on it. (To clarify, I am using this piece of law as an example of compromise not of a moral or immoral piece of legislation.) It would be better for the men and women of congress to stand for by their principles and vote on issues the way they said that they would vote to the people that elected them…

                Whoa, almost got off track there. Let us start calling a compromise what it is: a person who as a value and gives up part of that value for someone else. It is not selling your soul to the devil, it is selling parts of your soul. Which if we are going to define that in a white and black (absolute morals), we would consider that? But you are still not convinced of black and white, so let me explain in gray scale (moral relativity). As one starts to compromise his or her principle where on the scale do they start to go? They start becoming darker? Why? Because under your own subconscious you are really referring to a black and white scale and you are adding more black to their morality.

                If we dig a little deeper as to why we cling to the gray scale, then we would find that we believe in grayness, because we do not think that we can be wholly good or wholly evil, therefore we must be both. So the truth is that people do not want to put the effort to be good and condemn those that try to be wholly good or evil. One might also say that it is impossible to be good to which I would say, if your law is so complex that it does not allow people to be good then the law itself is evil. Our law must be good and therefore allow us to be good. Remember this does not mean compromise this means that a good law does not have contradictions.

                In conclusion, we the people need to stop our run away from principles and turn around and start walking. I say walking because this is going to be something that needs to be closely examined. We do not need to be making rash decisions. We must think! We must use the mind that we were given to process what is truth and what are lies, what is good and what is evil. If we do not stand for something than we will die for nothing. I would like to leave you with a quote from my favorite author (Terry Goodkind) and book (Faith of the Fallen): “The first law of reason is that what exists, exists; what is, is, and that from this ineducible, bedrock principle, all knowledge is built...that is the foundation from which life is embraced... thinking is a choice...wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they a means to discover them... reason is our only way of grasping reality--it's our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking--to reject reason--but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see... Reason is the very substance of truth itself. The glory that is life is wholly embraced through reason. In rejecting reason one embraces death.”