Ninety %, not Ten

Yes, Things are bad. But is all the world really as bad as we make it out to be?  

I’m sure there’s been a study out there that’s been done on the nature of the stories that we see on the news each night. Maybe not just at night, but morning news, midday news, afternoon news and late night bulletins as well. Without knowing the stats, I’d be willing to bet that the vast majority of the news items are bad news, sad news and sensationalised items at the very least. If I were to put a figure on it (including all of those yukky stories about poorly behaved sporting ‘heroes’), I’m guessing about 90 percent of the news stories we view/read/hear have some sort of bad or sour twist in them – just so we will keep tuning in. 

Is our world really as bad as that? I’m thinking not. Sure, Terrorism in New Zealand, One Nation and the NRA, warzones and famine – that’s about as bad as it can get. These things have to be reported on, and unfortunately we do need to be kept informed of this ugly reality in our lives. But it’s all of the other not-quite-as-bad kind-of news that totally dominates our airwaves. Do we need to hear about Mr Trump’s antics every single day? Can the same-old-news about the demolishing of the stadiums be set aside for a while? Do we really need to know of the latest gaff by a politician? Does every over-the-limit driver, or speed demon who caused a bad accident, or clumsy crim who fell through the roof whilst robbing at midnight have to be reported on? Do we need to know about every drug den that’s been raided? I don’t believe what we see on the news is really an accurate reflection of the state of our world, and certainly not of the Lucky Country.

I’m a worrier. A stresser. Some may call it having an eye for detail and organisation, others might say it’s overinvestment in unimportant things. Maybe. I reckon I’m guilty of spending 90 percent of my time on 10 percent of the things in my life – and those 10 percent would be things that are probably less important in the scheme of things than the other 90. I’ve tried to take a stand in some areas – like honking my horn at drivers on their mobile … it only gets me stressed, they just flip the bird and move on because they’re ‘special’.

I’m gonna change. Not exactly a New Years’ Resolution, but trying to spend my time on the 90 percent of good things in life could maybe see me get a little bit more out of things than I currently do.

The world should change. Jacinda Ardern (or as Pauline calls her ‘Jacinta Ahern’, sheesh) made a commitment to NEVER use the name of the terrorist, ever. Wouldn’t it be good if we took away the audience that the bottom 10% of people in the world so badly and desperately crave? No more Nick, no more nitpicky political stories. No more of the Mr Trump or Pauline circus. No more 15-minutes-of-famers from Married At First Sight (J).

News should change. Whilst quotas have been big news in themselves recently, bringing in an unofficial quota of reporting 90 percent good stuff versus 10 percent of the other stuff might see us bring a little balance to the world. Just like Jacinda did, let’s take away the audience of those 10 percent. Without an audience, there’s a chance they might not do some of their Dark Side deeds. Until then, I’ll only tune in to the news from 6:15pm, when the stories about the lottery winners and the good Samaritans get a run.