Things that scare you in the news

princessleia22

People scare me.  People that buy into everything the media says. And follow one new outlet religiously so they only ever hear one side of a story, and buy into it 100%.  And people that take extreme stances on things without researching or learning what they are standing up for or against. Just naivety and ignorance.  And people that refuse to listen to or consider other sides of issues or other opinions.  You don't need to convert to other ways of thinking, but you should at least be willing to listen to them, try to understand where they are coming from, and maybe learn a thing or two.

My dad watches Fox News all day long.  If he's doing something else, it's still on in the background. And he won't even consider other viewpoints on anything. His beliefs are right, everyone else is wrong, he has no interest in hearing other views, and there's no changing him. But, it scares me because if Fox News told everyone to jump off a bridge, he'd probably be the first one to jump, and wouldn't think twice.

I used to watch local news in morning, but I can't stand it anymore.  They focus on the bad stuff, because that's what sells.  It's almost like the media just wants to sell fear.  And it's not always accurate. Like, I remember seeing protest picture from Iraq years ago.  A large angry crowd holding anti-US signs. Then I later saw a picture of same protest from a different viewpoint... the crowd was actually very small and there was a larger pro-US group right next to it. And it had statistics showing that a majority of people in mid-east actually like the US and appreciate our help there. Of course, that statistic could be skewed too. But, of course, media will only show the negative side, because that's what sells and it fits with the political agenda.  It's easier to get people to support a war, and to get people to enlist, if we think that country is full of terrorists that hate us. 

And, yes, ISIS is scary, but that's really just one group.  They are still a minority and not everyone under their control agrees with them... most don't.  But they control with fear and violence, which is hard to fight against if they are at your front door. And they are scarier because they publicize their terror acts, to help spread the fear & gain power.  But, there have been (and probably still are) much worse, more violent, and more deadly groups out there, but they just didn't make the front page of the news (or broadcast their killings online). 

So, I have a hard time believing ANYTHING I hear or read in the media anymore.  It's always going to be one sided, biased, and tell you what they want you to hear, not necessarily the truth.  And so much of what they show is politically motivation... which often means showing you the scary stuff.  People are easier to control when they are scared.  The government has gotten away with a lot and taken a lot of our freedoms, because we were scared enough to let them, especially after 9-11 attacks. Maybe it was necessary to keep us safe, maybe not... there's not really any way to know.  But, I do worry that they skew the news coverage to promote fear, making it easier to convince people to give up more and more freedoms.  They've been doing the same thing with gun debate over last few years... there are too many stories getting twisted for political purposes. I will check online news sources on occasion, just to keep informed of what is going on in the world, but I try to look at various sources to get multiple sides of the story.

SmileDamnit

The media in & of itself scares me. Right fed, left fed - they both equally suck and it seems that news can't just be news anymore. Everything is skewed, sensationalized &/or has an agenda. It's just become so fucking political & polarizing that I have a hard time taking any of it seriously. 

Dottie05

This morning I read a news article about a mom who picked up a Reese Pumpkin, opened it and took a bite right before she gave the rest to her kid. Her bite had a needle in it. She said she bit right on it with her teeth.

Apparently someone is sick enough to take the time to stick sewing needles in halloween candy, because on further inspection she said she could see the tiniest little hole where it went through the wrapper.

Sick, who knows what they stuck the needle in first, too.

southernbelle0915

What scares me more than the content of news stories is what the media decides to cover. It's mostly violence and "shock factor" stuff. And when it's not, it's politically manipulative (Right or Left depending on the channel). And a shit ton of fear mongering. 

What scares me even more than that though, is that people aren't outraged over it. They're not demanding objective news with a wider scope. They're completely satisfied watching stories of violence and war with a nice little end cap of a squirrel water skiing or some other "feel good" thing. 

The other thing that scares me: beauty pageants. 

Sugargirl1019

ISIS. I have nightmares, similarly involving what happened 9/11 and beheadings all into one. I think it was the story about military uncovering an Australian plot to behead individuals there that started my nightmares... The fact that I could walk into a patients room, and get jumped and pulled in the bathroom and beheaded is FRIGHTENING to me! You just have no idea who you're taking care of! I also just heard something in the news about chemical warfare and they're showing pictures of the victims that it was used on... Just awful. They are trying to confirm the facts regarding the situation, but still very very scary.

esstee33

SmileDamnit said:

The media in & of itself scares me. Right fed, left fed - they both equally suck and it seems that news can't just be news anymore. Everything is skewed, sensationalized &/or has an agenda. It's just become so fucking political & polarizing that I have a hard time taking any of it seriously. 

I try to read news outlets from other countries because, ironically enough, their coverage of U.S. events tends to be mostly unbiased and just facts. 

SmileDamnit

esstee33 said:

SmileDamnit said:

The media in & of itself scares me. Right fed, left fed - they both equally suck and it seems that news can't just be news anymore. Everything is skewed, sensationalized &/or has an agenda. It's just become so fucking political & polarizing that I have a hard time taking any of it seriously. 

I try to read news outlets from other countries because, ironically enough, their coverage of U.S. events tends to be mostly unbiased and just facts. 

My Mom & I were just talking about this! She went on a riverboat cruise in France last month and said she watched more legit news covering the US there than she ever has here. 

princessleia22

esstee33 said:

SmileDamnit said:

The media in & of itself scares me. Right fed, left fed - they both equally suck and it seems that news can't just be news anymore. Everything is skewed, sensationalized &/or has an agenda. It's just become so fucking political & polarizing that I have a hard time taking any of it seriously. 

I try to read news outlets from other countries because, ironically enough, their coverage of U.S. events tends to be mostly unbiased and just facts. 

Yeah, I do the same thing.  Their coverage isn't as politically motivated as US media.  

jdluvr06

ISIS scares me. The Ebola outbreak is really scary to me because I have colleagues in some of them faceted countries who are being threatened by the locals because it is now being assumed that if you aren't local you are a health care worker. 

What scares me even more are the thins that dont make the news. Yeah you hear about the random rape in India but you hardly ever hear how widespread it is. They talked about Egypt when things first started happening but they aren't now. You hardly ever hear about how corrupt so many of the South America countries are. 

falsara

Anything that the media puts out I always take with a grain of salt.

Honestly I trust the view points that Colbert and John Oliver pose just because they tend to give background on most of their stories not just tell us what happened.

WinstonsGirl

I read the paper every morning, and usually get in 30 - 60 min local/30 min national news most evenings while cooking dinner.  I have to say that I find a huge difference between Canadian news and US news.  Everything is reported differently between the 2 countries, I find.  Not the facts, but the manner in which they're presented.  

Anyway, the story that just scared me was about a bus hitting a train, though I found out after that is happened over a year ago, and this was the result of the investigation.  Anyway, the driver was distracted by the video of passengers on the second deck of the bus and couldn't stop in time.  What scared me though was the computer aided video of the bus driving.  Stuff like that freaks me out, cos there's nothing you can do about it as a passenger.  

JoanE2012

Like many others, ISIS scares the living daylights out of me.  I was really spooked by the plot they uncovered in Australia to take a random person in Sydney and pubicly behead them.

manateehugger

The news terrifies me. Sit down and watch a segement on any major news network and see how much is circulation and speculation versus actual fact. The media has unbelievable power when we don't bother to analyze what they're saying. THAT terrifies me.