What's happening to the world - bad headline news

[aktrekker]

When I saw the major headlines for my city I was shocked at how much bad news there was. It even pushed the sports news aside. It's a little unusual for my little city. I thought it might be interesting to see if anyone else has noticed an increase in bad headlines.

Father pleads guilty to injuring baby
Bus driver accused of slapping 4-year old
Catholic religious order files for bankruptcy
Legionella bacteria confirmed at Sacred Heart (hospital)

And on another note,
Former Miss USA says she felt "violated" by TSA agent


But it's not all bad. I finally retired my 12-year old desktop and I'm running entirely on my 2-year old laptop. And after a week of fighting with UPS I finally got my new 1TB external drive. Now I just have to copy everything to it so I can clear up my miniscule 160GB drive. This could take a while...

Eh, maybe I'm just rambling. But my local news really is shocking for us. So many random bad things all at once.

[Lo]

Unfortunately, news bulletins are more often focussed on the grim and ugly as is all media per se. Try not to let it disturb you too much because good news rarely meets the headlines - instead it is always tagged on to the post script at the end of the broadcast :rolleyes:

There are GREAT things happening in this world among GREAT and ordinary people.

Today is the Royal Wedding so a bit of feel-good is coming our way :flowers:

[mad825]

^
Indeed

The media tends to go for the human interest as well which does make things even grimmer.

[Lo]

^
Indeed

The media tends to go for the human interest as well which does make things even grimmer.

Sadly though, the media don't cater for all of our tastes and I am completely disinterested in knowing about Katie Price and the likes. Nor do I want to tune in to hear about tragedy. This country was once renowned for being a stiff, upper-lipped place with great news. Instead, it has now become the centre of negative attention and that truly sucks :(

[The Hylden]

I've got to say, aktrekker, those headlines are very, very tame when compared to this city, or most in the US each and every day (not including your apparent inclusion of the national story of the TSA agent thing, as that's universally been covered). I am not trying to trivialize them, simply saying that I envy the fact that wherever it is that you live, it seems it's a lot more friendlier than most places today. Notwithstanding Lo's and the others' points that there are, indeed, great people doing great things in the world today, but the headlines usually are far worse each day nationally and locally for a great deal of places out there (definitely here). Matter of fact, the unreal tornadoes that have killed, injured, evicted, and destroyed so many lives in the south is one of those instances you just have to step back and appreciate that this could have happened to where you live, but thank God it didn't. So, yeah, in that sense, don't take it all to heart. Hopefully, it was just one of those days in the news that even your town/place couldn't escape. Relish the good that is the norm in your community :thumb:

[Bazielim]

If I may add some Criminology ;-) - In the last 20 years (up until the recession at least) crime rates were dropping like a stone; but in the same period the fear of crime and media reporting of crime sky-rocketed (I do remember the figure for that one being over 600% increase). Chances are that there is actually less 'crime/social harm' happening, just lots more people in recent times watching for it now, especially with the growth of CCTV etc.
Don't forget as well that bad, sensationalist news sells, you'll barely hear about the good stuff and a lot of the time news isn't 'news' anymore - especially in the states, they're editorials (complete with telling you how to think - wtf!) and if they can make you worried about the world, you might just vote the way they want ;)
Slightly confused as to why Catholic bankruptcy could be bad - think of the choirboys that will be saved :lol:

[Paradoks]

Slightly confused as to why Catholic bankruptcy could be bad - think of the choirboys that will be saved :lol:
Most people criticising Catholic Church know very little about it.
Are the scandals in the Church a problem? Off course they are - a very serious one. Is the scale of a problem as huge as many media are showing it? Very doubtful.

[The Hylden]

"Dropping like a stone" is also a bit of a stretch... Certainly not in most cities. New York had some drop-age for a while in the late 90's/early 2000's, but compared to what it was, say, fifty years ago, most crime in America has been for decades far more and, overall, increasing, in major cities.

[Bazielim]

@ParadoksReally was intending that as more humorous comment, than as a serious theological discussion (hence the lol) - I'm sure that's not a situation unique to Catholicism (Sri Sai baba anyone?) not judging for it. Perhaps I'm just hinitng that religion and morality are not necessarily closely linked.;)

@The Hylden - I've seen the figures (and had to number crunch them for my degree) - it was going down over there as well as over here ; just be aware that you guys get a lot more 'editorial' and opinion in your news than us - and it's often a lot more politically motivated. The figures (though as you point out are upto 90's/ 00's, not including most recent years since I left uni in 2008) say that - Believe it or not - that 'perfect state' of the 1950's never existed, it's all nostalgia. It was just as bad back then, but there wasn't the developed media that we have now, so less was reported. and the view of ppl who were there is tainted by 'rose tinted glasses' and 'Nostalgia'.

I don't know if concepts like the 'Teddy Boys' translate well, but that was a 'youth gang' sort of aspect in the 50's UK which was seen as the 'downfall of society' back then (as Chav's and ASBO kids are now), fast forward 50 years and the former teddy boys run everything and what they did in the 50's is now considered 'fine' and 'growing up' etc - even though it's exactly the same supposedly 'destructive' stuff that the Chav's get upto now. We have a strange need to create nostalgia for times past and make it seem as if it was perfect.

[aktrekker]

I wasn't pointing out any particular crime, in fact not just crime. Just bad news in general. Lots of things seem to go wrong all at once, it's just kind of shocking and sad to go from almost exclusively sports news to all bad news.
As for the catholic group, apparently they run several schools scattered around that part of the country. And any organization going bankrupt is a bad thing. It always affects so many people. Some don't get paid, and that is always passed on to others.

Maybe I only noticed because of the 2 stories involving kids.

And using the DOJ crime statistics violent crime has only gone down slightly over the past 20 years or so. Property crimes have decreased slightly. But they estimate that about 40% of crimes are not reported, and in some categories over 50%. They also rate them on per capita figures. While that is great for statistical analysis and probability estimates, sometimes the raw figures can be very telling. Breaking the figures down by location you learn that some places have become much more violent and dangerous while much more of the country has had a drop. This brings down the national average but it doesn't really tell the whole story. People have also been moving from the cities which means fewer victims are available. That includes hot spots like Detroit and Chicago. This would certainly skew the figures.

[xzx]

Actually this stuff happens all the time, mos which is not caught. It's just when the news reports it do you think the world's going to hell, truth is it already IS hell! The movies are shedding light on any possible changes that might occur in which people would be forced to extreme measures leading to widespread cannibalism! When there's no food they'll eat each other.

My computer is SO dead it isn't funny. Office computers are NOT meant for anything but file stacking! If I want CPU games I'm going to have to break the bank and spend about $3,000! 2 TB HD !! 1GB VIDEO !