News From the Hill

Archive for February 3rd, 2009

Just lately it is even harder than ever to avoid bad news, dreariness, negativity etc on the nation’s media. I do my best to avoid the tv news and I haven’t bought or read a paper in ages, still it seeps in.

Today I had a look through my bookmarks for a study that I came across sometime last year, unfortunately I could not find the study however I do remember the gist of it and why it stuck in my mind.

The main point that came through from the study was that repetition is very effective in manipulating opinion. Even if people hear a fact that they know to be untrue, if they hear it often enough they may come to believe that it is true.

That may seem like an outrageous claim and I know that for big things or important issues it may not be true, for smaller or less important issues however it does appear to be true – after all, is that not the result that the majority of advertisers are hoping for?

Repeat often enough that your shop has the best bargains or that a certain product is healthy and people come to believe it, without any effort on their part, it happens in the back of your mind, so to speak.

I wondered at the time if the same is true of bad news, negativity etc. and I greatly suspect that it is.

I know if you wish to have a healthy attitude towards yourself and towards life that it helps to seek out the company of like minded individuals because it simply doesn’t feel good to be around people who are predominantly negative.

I don’t think that it is helpful right now for the media to focus so singly on doom and gloom, to dramatise it. I would love it if there were more good news stories being broadcast.

I feel lucky that I have seen a few really good programs lately. One show was about a bunch of Hawaiians who are teaching the children of the islands how to look after their islands, how to respect the coral, to reduce the use of plastic, to love the environment they are living it.

There is a native Hawaiian word (which I sadly cannot remember) which is an old teaching, the word means both privilege and responsibility. It is this old teaching that is being brought back to contemporary society, the children are learning what is involved in having both a sense of privilege and a sense of responsibility.

I love that these children are being supported in learning the old ways in this modern world, that they are being given a sense that they have power, they can do things to change what is unhealthy. They are being supported in learning to take responsibility, to fully enjoy and appreciate the privilege.

I love to hear and see stories such as this, to know that people are working hard at a very basic level to love this planet that we all inhabit. It is important for my spirit to know that there are a lot of people for whom money is not a high priority, who do not take more than they need, who do not suffer from a greed for power or for money.

Personally, I cannot hear enough of these stories, the good news stories that we can all share with each other…