Negative News: Is The World Really On Fire?

Open any news app and the evidence is abundant: the world is on fire; your way of life is in danger; you should definitely panic – oh, and by the way, here’s a link to another article of ours that will tell you the very same thing. 

So… is it true? 

Is the state of the world truly a cause for fear, or is there equal and ample evidence for hope? 

Consider: In every study conducted on the topic, the results are conclusive: news has a negativity bias. “If it bleeds, it leads” is a saying for a reason, and a story about some sort of catastrophe is gonna get more clicks and more engagement than a feel good piece. 

I am a journalist with two advanced degrees and more than 10 years of experience in the field. I know the previous paragraph to be verifiably, factually true. But this knowledge did not stop my day from starting shittily because I engaged with (and became enraged by) negative news. 

I wasn’t even one cup of coffee in before the news app browbeating: See that thing you care a lot about? The thing that affects you and your community personally? Well, it’s going terribly, and you and your loved ones should prepare for the worst. 

Angry, hurt, scared, and lashing out, I did what most people do when faced with a world afire: I contacted a like-minded friend to lament how far we, as a species, have fallen. 

We talked about the news. 

We shared articles and opinions.  

We doom-scrolled. 

And all of it contributed to various publications’ bottom lines. 

Media’s monetary mission? Accomplished. 

Midday required that I end my “all is lost” bitch-session with my friend, as I had to make my rounds for a local water conservation and monitoring group. 

Each week, I and others like me travel around Georgia to collect samples from local waterways to monitor pollution levels. The results are seldom uplifting or surprising, though the group continues to work with local municipalities (often with success!) on water cleanup and safety. 

In what I can only describe as a continuation of the “everything and everyone sucks” trend my morning was taking, my monitoring met with disaster. 

While poised atop a bridge with my sampling device, I dropped my car/house keys in the middle of an absolutely disgusting, heavily polluted, difficult-to-access stream. 

My cell phone was in my car. My car was locked. 

I could not call for help. I could not drive for help. 

Panicked, I weighed my options. 

There were really only two. 

One: I could walk home and attempt – a feat in and of itself, considering the distance traveled – to break in to my house. This would take a lot of time, my samples would probably be ruined, and nosy neighbors might call the cops on me trying to break into my own home. 

Two: I could put my faith and fate in the hands of my fellow human beings. The same (potentially) scary human beings that the news, only an hour or two before, told me could be among the ones who helped set the world on fire. 

In a fit of either desperation or idiocy, I opt for option two. 

With trepidation, I approach the nearest house. They have a Ring door camera, and I hear a barking dog. I’m hoping for the best, but fearing the absolute worst. (We’ve all seen this episode of “60 Minutes” – the one where the homeowner shoots the unassuming neighbor who’s come to his doorstep seeking help. We’ve seen the Ring camera “last seen” footage; read about the woman mauled by her neighbor’s dog. Regardless of the episode, the story doesn’t end well.) 

I do not know the inhabitants of this house. I have no proof of I.D. (Wallet is locked in the car with the cell phone. Because of course it is.) I look incredibly sketchy. I’m dressed shabbily and carrying this weird water collecting device that looks uncomfortably like a hangman’s noose. My hands are clad in definitely-featured-as-damning-evidence-in-multiple-murder-trials creepy gloves. 

I’m a walking nightmare. 

And I know there is the potential for danger here – real for me, and at least perceived (I know I am no threat, but they don’t know that) for whomever resides behind the door. 

But, in this moment, I need help. 

I genuinely need it. 

And, whether stupidly or no, I’ve placed my faith and safety in the hands of a complete stranger. 

So… I ask again: is the state of the world a cause for fear or a cause for hope? 

A man answers the door. 

And, as I’ve lived to write this tome to you, you’ve probably already guessed what happens next: 

He helps me. 

Yes, in this doomed world where the stuff we care about is all going to shit and all of “them” are out to get us, this man – who does not match me in age, in sex, in race, and (if certain context clues are any indication) in religion – opened his door for the scary noose lady in the murder gloves. 

He helped me. 

He was obviously confused and wary. He kept a firm hold on his phone, (Understandably. He’s read the news. He knows what’s up.) but he made the necessary calls for me. He didn’t attack me or call the cops on me (Both of which have happened to people. How do I know? I read the news.). 

Instead, he took a guarded chance on me, and I on him. 

As a result, help arrived within the hour. My keys and water samples were saved. And the stranger isn’t a stranger anymore. 

His name is Ray, and he allowed me to meet his 16-month-old child. That child – clueless about the topics that divide us and the literal and figurative fires raging in every corner of the world – gave me a wave and a smile. That wordless gesture instilled in me a sense of hope that I’d been missing while mired in my fear. Oh, and speaking of fear – the scary, barking dog? Turned out to be a Shih Tzu. 

Look, I’m not trying to sugar coat the reality that there are some legitimately scary, dangerous things and people in the world. The news isn’t lying when it tells you about them. Hell, there’s no guarantee that if I’d rung a different Ring doorbell that this entire story would’ve played out differently. Maybe even disastrously. 

Had it, it’s likely you’d have seen it on the news. 

But because it didn’t – because everyone lived and a neighborly friendship was made– you can bet CNN, Fox, et al will not be calling me. 

In news and in life, positive interactions are so prevalent as to be considered mundane, and therefore unworthy of headlines. Kindness is available in abundance, which is why the negative outliers get all the attention.

Knowing this, perhaps the best thing we can do for ourselves, for our mental peace, for our very sanity is to limit the amount of attention we allow the negative news to command in our lives. 

We can choose where to put our focus. Negative facts are true. But positive ones are too. 

So… 

Is the state of the world a cause for fear or a cause for hope? 

You decide. 

Note: This is an opinion article as designated by the the category placement on this website. It is not news coverage. If this disclaimer is funny to you, it isn’t aimed at you — but some of your friends and neighbors honestly have trouble telling the difference.