#80: All news is good news
Happy Friday!
Today I thought I'd buy a couple of newspapers, one national and one local, and cut out the stories that I considered 'positive news'.
What do I mean by that? Although not necessarily 'good news' (certainly not in the Biblical sense), for me positive news stories are reported with an eye on constructive analysis and solutions. Above all, they steer clear of threatening or fear-mongering language.
Armed with my copy of The Guardian and The Bournemouth Daily Echo, I set about on the floor with a pair of scissors.
I didn't get very far before falling under a miasma of depression. To be honest, I had been expecting a slightly better return than, let's say, 8 out of 50 with The Guardian. But almost every article was couched in threatening language, even when it purported to be presenting 'good' news.
On the front page, jobs are under threat and vital cancer treatment is prevented by the Home Office. Inside, headlines and stand-firsts cover 'intimidation' and a 'fight for survival', as well as 'clashes' and an 'outcry' in York, not to mention 'moral obligations' and a 'toxic legacy'.
Moving through the paper are yet more 'threats', 'struggles' and even a metaphorical 'wrecking ball'. For the younger reader, there are articles on painful child restraint techniques and teenage suicide.
Internationally, football fans risk racist attacks in Russia, there are more 'attack fears' in China, a Canadian 'dies alone' and a Dutch woman is found dead after years of depression.
No wonder people so often turn to the sports pages first. Where are all the stories about what people are actually doing to abide, resist and overcome their personal and political challenges? And what is the effect of this negativity on our mood and mind?
So to save you the agony of wading through the muck, here is my selection of positive news stories this Friday:
COSMIC: Nasa's Curiosity rover has found complex organic matter preserved in ancient sediments on Mars
WORLD: Ikea will phase out single-use plastic in its outlets by 2020
LOCAL: Volunteers knit teddy bears for Dorset Police to deploy when attending incidents involving children
I'd love to contribute to a global news channel where all of us (for everyone is a mediator or broadcaster of news to some degree) share fewer stories of gossip, threat and fear, and more stories of ideas, love and encouragement.
What's your positive news this week?
BIKES!
The Bike Project's Sunday Social Cycle was a rip-roaring success. Featuring homemade cookies, a recumbent tandem and a swim in the Thames to recover a mislaid frisbee.
The next ride will be on the afternoon of Sunday 1 July, just before I head out to Athens for the summer. Send me an email if you fancy joining us!
OUTPUT >>
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Ultimate Medal Hope (May)
Sunswim (May)
...COMING UP...
Oh is that Foiled? Book your FREE tickets for the recording of our laugh-out-loud sitcom at St David's Hall in Cardiff on 23 June and 24 June!
Monday is a talk and Q&A with Michael Pollan, author of How to Change Your Mind, an excellent (so far) book about the history and renaissance of psychedelic research. Tickets are still available, incredibly.
And Tuesday is The Bike Project's infamous comedy spectacular Jokes and Spokes, featuring Sara Pascoe, Robin Ince (MC), Rachel Parris, Phil Wang, Andy Zaltzman and Evelyn Mok. Tickets £20, all proceeds to charity, obvs.
But mostly Foiled.
Now On: The Victor Frankl 5-a-day Book Club!
Membership Criteria: Read 5 pages a day of Man's Search for Meaning to complete the whole darn text in only 28 days. I'll be tootling through the text at just 5 pages a week, so you've got plenty of time to catch up.
Day 6, p37-41
Frankl describes how even the most hardened concentration camp prisoner can be roused through insult to rash - and potentially suicidal - indignation.
The beating Frankl received after defending his honour as a doctor against the insults of a particularly repugnant foreman was only relieved by the favour of the Capo in his work party. And how had Frankl won the good favour of this Capo? By lending a sympathetic ear to the Capo's tales of matrimonial strife!
This Capo would reserve for Frankl a place at the head of the marching party, where he could pour out his stories of domestic woe. This was of great benefit to Frankl: those at the front of the column suffered less frequent beatings. He also got a few extra peas from the bottom of the soup vat at lunchtime.
The apathy that was a distinguishing feature of camplife meant that 'all efforts and all emotions were centered on one task: preserving one's own life'. This diminution of reality lead to a form of regression in the inmates, 'a retreat to a more primitive form of mental life'.
Wishes and desires were only unshackled in night-time dreams of 'bread, cake, cigarettes, and nice warm baths'. But, of course, come morning the dreamer had to wake from these sweet dreams to the brutal reality of camp life.
One night, Frankl felt an urge to wake a fellow inmate who was obviously having a horrible nightmare. But he stayed his hand:
'At that moment, I became intensely conscious of the fact that no dream, no matter how horrible, could be as bad as the reality of the camp which surrounded us, and to which I was about to recall him.'
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Share your thoughts by replying to this email, or adding to the comments on my blog. We will continue next week...
That's all folks - but, to be honest, it was quite a lot really!
Much love,
- dc
CREDITS
David Charles wrote this. When not writing this, David co-writes BBC Radio sitcom Foiled, does copywriting for The Bike Project and the Elevate Festival, and volunteers for refugee youth club Young Roots. He is almost always available for work. Lazy sod. davidcharles.info // @dcisbusy
What the? Via Kottke.org