Journalistic Terrorism

I'm in transition. It can be a slow process depending on how long one has been developing into a certain thing. I was taught to be fearful of my parents, obedient to adults, and cautious, thus becoming shy and somewhat insecure. This same socialization process continues through the media with the deluge of news stories about child rape and murder, immoral acts of unkindness (the hit-&-run gentlement left for dead in the street); tainted food, and the latest incurable super-bug. What purpose does it serve for me to know every single horrific disease that I have or don't have immunity to? or to hear that a 6-week old baby girl is raped to death by her 22-year old father? The point is to scare you and me s*#t-less, thereby changing our way of life. If memory serves, isn't this the definition of "terrorism?" So news corporations like MSNBC, CNN, Fox, and others engage in journalistic terrorism each time they report stories that otherwise try to kill your spirit and desensitize you to inhumanity. Has it always been that you hear about a child dying each and every day on the news? or Am I just more aware since becoming a parent?

So, I began weaning myself from the local news about a year ago. (They're the worst offenders). But it seems I have to get my news from organizations that are not inherently concerned about ratings--Scaring us into staying in the house to watch the news all day.

These kinds of reports are dangerous because they breed fear and make us BELIEVE that the world and humanity is worse than it really is. The fact is that crime has been decreasing over the last 30 years, (with a slight spike in the last 2 years) but you could never make that assumption by watching the news!