Stop Reading Drudge Report

in Me with 5 Comments written by

I read the drudge report everyday (if you don’t know what I am talking about, go here). It is my source of news. I do not watch fox news, CNN or any other news company, I simply click on my drudge tab and get briefed on the morning news. I like to imagine that I am the president in my morning meetings getting “educated” about what is going on in the world.

This post is not about ripping the drudge report. Actually it is a post about the depravity of man. I was reading drudge this morning and noticed something, every story has some kind of negative, problematic, downright scary news with it. Here is what I mean (see picture below, click to enlarge)
Screen shot 2009-10-19 at 10.00.07 AM













With the exception of the news that Tom Brady threw for 5 touchdowns (ridiculous) every story has a negative headline. There is something wrong with our news system.

I am tired of hearing what is wrong with the world, I want to hear what is right with the world. Where are the stories about hope and triumph, about a guy helping an old lady across the street, or the work of Shaun King and his church in helping the people devastated by the flood in ATL? It seems that we are more interested in the flood and its devastation than we are in the stories of hope that are being told.
I am getting a little sick and tired of reading these headlines.

Yet, I am the one that has created these headlines. No I didn’t physically write these, but I contribute to them, I am apart of them, and I am capable of these headlines myself. The depravity of man is never overlooked, often it is publicized and read about daily. Maybe in a sick and distorted way we need to hear about how others are more screwed up then we are. I know it makes me feel better when I read that someone else is worse than me. I have become obsessed with hearing what is wrong with the world rather than what is right with the world.

If you only reason you read Drudge is to hear about negativity, STOP. Rather than read Drudge just to get stories about the world, start making your own stories. Only we can write the stories of hope and rightness that is missing from the front pages.

Today, focus on what is right with the world.

*Kyle

About Kyle Reed: I create websites, conversations, and ideas. Advocate for the 20 somethings. Looking to connect everyone to a mentor. I like my coffee black and my dog Jack. I currently live in Nashville and find whatever excuse I can to travel to St. Louis

All Posts by  |  Personal Blog  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Share By Email
  • Jean Denim

    yep. i think about it and wonder if news reporters/journalists/etc really do want to find all the negative and horrific stories in the world? In five seconds I come to two conclusions:
    1) i'm in class right now so i forgot my first conclusion
    2) seeing all the "bad" stuff in the world contributes to the most insidious downfall known to humanity: PRIDE. If I read or hear about a murder, rape, adulterer, or something that another does it builds up pride in myself. Proud that I don't do those awful things, proud that I am not that person, pride that my life does not have those problems in my life. Sometimes I even find myself judging or condemning a person in the news. I remind myself of the Pharisee's prayer in Luke 18:11
    The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
    So I would say sometimes (in a weird, not understandable way) we like to hear about other ppl's mess ups because in a sense we can build ourselves up by looking down upon others.

    Onto my other conclusion that I forgot earlier:
    1) Sometimes we need to hear about the bad stuff going on in the world so that justice can served. For example, Gary Haugen, the founder, president, and CEO of International Justice Mission, http://www.ijm.org/, felt called to save girls and boys from human slave trafficking and other injustices. How did he hear about those injustices? Information and news from the media. Another good example would be all the horrific things going on in Darfur getting publicized and then so many agencies and organizations doing something about it. Therefore, seeing negative and awful things in the news helped bring justice to those oppressed.

    Final conclusion: I believe there needs to be a healthy tension between "good" and "bad" news. Although, it seems like there is more "bad" news than there is "good." I think there needs to be a representation of the Light at the end of the tunnel for the world see.

    That representation is up to us.

    Yep.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/klreed189 klreed189

      Great points serb, I mean Jean.
      I think you are right, there needs to be a healthy dose of each.
      If we tend to go to far in one direction we either create the illusion that we are robots and perfect people or the illusion that we are breaching sodom and gomorrah type world and we are screwed, literally and figuratively.
      I think there needs to be a balance, but it seems to me that the pendulum is swinging towards what is wrong and we are just soaking that up and doing nothing about it.

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention Stop Reading Drudge Report | Thoughts about Nothing*com -- Topsy.com

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/austinklee austinklee

    I have often heard from my friends in the media that the reason its all bad news is that it sells. The news is nothing more than a business. The more eyeballs they can get the more they can charge for ad space/minutes. Unfortunately people want to see the train wrecks.

    And yeah, its my fault, too. I have a Drudge gadget on my iGoogle home page.

  • O23

    Good post Kyle. Serb had some nice input too. Thanks guys.