Depressing News…

That’s it, there is nothing to follow.

The title of this post is a statement not a sign pointing to some larger truth. It is in fact the only partial truth that matters. Succinctly: The News is Depressing. I’m not talking about normal every day depressing news like the kind we used to get back in the day. Sure, the news used to be depressing, sometimes sensational, but almost always deep down at its core….the very nature of the news has been deeply depressing as of late. About all we can do it to poke fun at it. We can place our thumb to our nose as we pass it by on the street, or make some equally disdainful gesture to it.

Who cares about Bernie Madhoff? Well, actually a lot of people do. Who cares what Rush Limbaugh has to say? Again, about 20 million people a day. I repeat: The News is depressing.

Systems seek equilibrium especially human systems. They have a tendency to “right” themselves like ships on the water. They may list from side to side, from time to time, but eventually they either right themselves or they sink. Continuously reporting on the sway doesn’t do much to influence the result. Except of course to cause grief to the reader/listener.

We are drawn to it though aren’t we?. I dare say that there is something deep down inside us that likes the pain, longs for the suffering, wants to have our noses rubbed in the cultural excrement as twer. So much more is the pity. So what is the answer? Stop reading the news? Perhaps. Even better, take the position to not contribute to the unrest. Next time you hear or see a piece of bad-to-terrible news, don’t tweet it, don’t dig it, don’t blog it, don’t do anything at all with it. In fact, when you read it simply accept it as inert. It is just news. And in this time and place, if it ain’t good news, we are all a lot better off if we don’t spread it around like the flu. Fur deiner Gasuntheit.