People are attracted to conflicts and disasters. Everybody wants to know the latest scoops. Because real investigations are time consuming, the news media makes up for it by discussing conspiracy theories, just to keep people watching!
Gun violence has decreased over the last 2 decades. That's right, decreased!
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/05/07/gun-homicide-rate-down-49-since-1993-peak-public-unaware/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/03/weve-had-a-massive-decline-in-gun-violence-in-the-united-states-heres-why/?utm_term=.c2c3ce659360
https://reason.com/blog/2017/10/03/this-is-the-time-to-defend-the-second-am
Hard to believe it when the news media just keeps showing images from the latest shooting!
To the media, telling people shootings have decreased doesn't bring ratings or advertising revenue! Telling people the latest scoops about the latest shooting bring ratings and advertising revenue!
And because of this, there are many on social media who act as if there are no regulations on buying guns, even though they are plenty in existence.
The media also brings the latest news in racial conflict! Whether it's the latest outrageous statement by a politician, or an overly aggressive police officer killing someone, that brings ratings!
And if there isn't enough of that, make up a controversy! Broadcast a clip of a "woke" SJW lunatic complaining about Bruno Mars "stealing black culture" nevermind that other people in the same room (overwhelmingly African-American) defended Bruno Mars.
Or in the case of right-wing media, keep broadcasting the last crime committed by an illegal immigrant, NEVERMIND that illegal immigration has already decreased YEARS BEFORE Trump got elected! Mexican immigration was already decreasing a decade ago!
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/shrinking-problem-illegal-immigration-from-mexico
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/27/even-before-trump-more-mexicans-were-leaving-the-us-than-arriving/?utm_term=.894c3efd0d4a
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/11/19/more-mexicans-leaving-than-coming-to-the-u-s/
Also, immigrants commit violent crimes at lower rates than non-immigrants.
http://townhall.com/columnists/stevechapman/2015/07/05/trump-and-the-myth-of-immigrant-crime-n2020695/page/full
http://townhall.com/columnists/monacharen/2015/07/10/the-democrats-trump-card-n2023530/page/full
But why mention that? You can get more ratings (and advertising revenue) by repeating details of the latest crime committed by an immigrant! Scaring people brings in the viewers and the money.
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Back in 2015, I responded to an article on Salon by Priscilla Ward, an African-American who was homeschooled, and now having hard time fitting into European-American environments. The problems she described wasn't racial slurs or threats It was just (omg..........no) having different pop culture interests, different slang phrases, and different dietary habits.
I mentioned that I too have faced culture shock, especially with me being "different" from my peers. But I also mentioned that culture shock is just a part of life that you can handle like a mature confident adult.
I wrote on it at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/01/you-need-to-be-able-to-adjust-to.html
Fast forward to 2017, and Ms Ward admits that the media has made her too paranoid on race relations
https://www.salon.com/2017/10/26/how-racism-became-our-zeitgeist/
When I run out of normal get to know you small talk, it’s easy to bring up racial injustice. It’s like a broken alarm clock in me that can’t be turned off, unless I’m on vacation someplace and don’t have access to the constant news cycle or social media. Instead, the alarm goes off every day, creating a ritual of how I’m supposed to see the world, my place and whom I’m meant to do life with. I wake up, scroll through Twitter, check the front page of news websites and watch viral clips. Every time I pick up my phone, I’m notified of a divisive statement by Trump, natural disaster, sexual assault or the black community’s encounter with the police. It has rebranded so much of my thinking, twisted and perverted it over the last couple of years.
Ms Ward mentions that all the online news outlet, plus social media having nonstop coverage of the latest outrage
The turning point of my thinking belongs to the night Darren Wilson, the officer who murdered Michael Brown, was acquitted. More and more instances of police brutality began to go viral after this, creating what seemed like a thoughtful argument for why media should begin shifting their attention more heavily to issues facing the black community. As a media professional, to me it was clear that it all boiled down to ratings, metrics and Google trends.
Post Ferguson websites such as Mic.com, Huffington Post Black Voices and Youngist.org weren’t the only ones I turned to for their take on issues concerning the black millennial experience. Now I could go almost anywhere and find the latest news on race. It was now at the forefront — a dangerous display of black trauma, looping videos of black death could be found everywhere and protest felt routine
From that point on, the ugly, the sinister, the impacts of racism have held my attention in a binge-worthy way. Black trauma and pain reverberates in and through me. Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Eric Gardner. Sandra Bland. Kalief Browder. DeAndre Harris.
All of these news, according to Priscilla Ward, have made her paranoid about "white people".
But wait a minute....... her parents (obviously African-American) thinks she's getting too paranoid about racism
After a while, these conversations get old and redundant. I know they do, when I listen to myself. “Don’t you have something more uplifting to talk about?” My parents ask constantly. Whenever they asked this, I wonder why they aren’t joining in the conversation. Weren't they children of the 1960s, impacted by race rioting following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.? Didn’t they live through Rodney King, Prince Jones, and a seemingly endless list of people taken by a system the devalues black life? They tell me prayer is the only solution, but let’s be honest, distancing myself from white people has felt like a work of self preservation more often than not. The media has influenced my opinion, alerting me that I should keep a safe distance from white men in khakis toting torches, white men in uniform and emo looking white boys that favor Dylann Roof.
I can’t imagine myself not bringing up race. I wish my memory could serve me well. My mother was raised in Queens, NY and my father in Columbus, GA. But the era and cultural climate in which they were raised doesn’t seem to define their approach to life now and how they choose to see people. My parents didn’t raise me to make a case for war against whiteness.
After recycling the same dialogue and feeling less and less hopeful, and now that Trump exhaustion has set in, their question to me is finally starting to click, although I still constantly find myself giving in to conversations that only end up pointing the finger at white people. But my background is much more nuanced than this -- it was never just black and white. But lately I’ve sheepishly brought in so many ideas from mainstream media without personal exploration or consideration.
My parents have always done the work of making sure I had a diversity of friends and opportunities that didn’t fit into the framework of stereotypical black life. I’m black, Christian and I have friends that reflect Martin Luther King’s Dream.
If all you hear about "the other" is what the news media tells you, you are afraid of "the other".
Those who just consume right-wing media are brainwashed to think Latinos and Muslims are scary people out to destroy "our" white utopia.
Meanwhile, those consumed with SJW media outlets are brainwashed to think that "whites" out to either kill you or annoy you with "tiny aggressions" (there's a reason I don't use the word "microaggressions" http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2016/04/racial-irritations-and-tiny-aggressions.html)
Meanwhile, Barack Obama grew up with a mostly European-American family. He knew what it's like to feel a sincere love from European-Americans from childhood. Even if he later said that some of their comments "made him cringe", he understood it was coming from ignorance and not malice! Obama did grow up in Hawaii, where though he felt stereotyped and misunderstood by his mostly non-black peers, he wasn't exposed to the level of hatred that was common in Alabama or Mississippi.
It was also a similar experience for Trevor Noah, who grew up in South Africa with a Xhosa mother and a European-descendant father. Even as he grew up in the last decade of apartheid, he knew what it was like to feel a sincere love from a "white" family.
This issue was discussed when author Ta-Nehisi Coates came to Noah's "Daily Show".
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/vbyz5z/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-exclusive---ta-nehisi-coates-extended-interview
Mr Coates mentioned that for many African-Americans who live a segregated experience, they never had the opportunity to receive sincere love from European-Americans growing up, and much of their experience with "white people" is more negative.
Being that Obama was kinda/sorta "sheltered", he wasn't scared to engage with European-Americans when he campaigned in the rural Midwest, because to him, they literally reminded him of people in his family. Mr Coates mentioned that's not something many African-Americans can relate to!
Being able to relate to others might not come easily to some people.
However, being critical about how the news media exaggerates conflicts and bad news is a skill that you can develop.
Understand that the media corporations are looking out for themselves more than they are looking out for you.
While I will NEVER suggest that you totally isolate yourself from the news media or social media, I will definitely suggest coming out of your home, and walk around. Go to malls, go to parks, go to restaurants, ride the bus, ride the bike. When you do that, you can interact with people without trying too hard to be an extrovert. You'll start to realize that the people you consider "The Other" are not so scary! You'll notice a lot of good around you.
It won't erase all your problems but developing some optimism would do wonders for your mental health.
