Why are people so focused on the bad?

your line of thought is so true.everytime we turn on the tv the news is so grim.
we complain about the weather,we bitch about other people,we moan about the lack of money we have,we moan about getting up for work in the morning.it is human nature to focus on negative aspects in life.
in our materialistic world we always want more,bigger,better things and its a never ending road of greed.
this is one of my favourite sayings that people should think about.
"dont be mad with what you havent got,be grateful for what you have"

Re: Why are people so focused on the bad?


I don't see it as being negative or "concentrating on the bad" if people continue to protest the unnecessary loss of life in Iraq. The loss of life has been massive. It wouldn't have happened if certain of our leaders had actually listened to the people they were supposedly to representing.
And as for learning a lesson: Surely we didn't need yet another "lesson" after Vietnam? How many lessons do we need? I can fully understand it if many would find it hard to look on the bright side of this mess.

I realize you don't want this topic to necessarily become political in nature, but I see very little to be thankful about as a result of the Iraq invasion. Perhaps it wasn't the best example you could use to illustrate your argument?

I was trying so hard not to go into too much detail on the whole Iraq issue...oh well.

The loss of life has been huge. But it's a war, what did you really expect? Compared to the other wars that we have fought (with the exception of a few) the casualties are incredibly slim. All I'm saying is that we've started a war that we can't stop so instead of complaining just say, "At least it isn't as bad as it could be."

As for the lesson learned, I didn't mean for that to be applied to the war in Iraq. I don't see what possible lesson there could be.

On a side note: "How many lessons do we need?" Each generation will do it's part to screw up, and they will get their lesson. The best we can do is to teach them how to avoid making the same mistakes at all costs.

I really don't want to go on & on about Iraq on this thread .... but the "leaders" who took us there were all very well aware of the folly of Vietnam. They are of generations that should have learned from the Vietnam mistake. That's what I mean about learning from history .... This is definitely not a good example of looking on the bright side, sorry ...!

That's why I rarely watch the news and I don't go to funerals.

I surmise that people are so depressedbecause of the reciprocal theory of history.It also works in a from of premonition. It's these two things that are calling recalling as it has for everyone over time.

truth
Someone has probably already said this because it is so obvious: We focus on the bad because the good is not a problem.

but from Bad also comes good.By doing an act that need repremanding that is an act of good for the corrector...

I don't follow you

BAD VERSES GOOD
I AGREE WITH YOU ABOUT HOW WE ARE ALWAYS NOTICING THE BAD IN EVERYTHING. DO YOU THINK THAT PERHAPS THE MEDIA AND ALL OUR OTHER SURROUNDING CONDITION US TO DO THIS? I SEE IT IN MYSELF ALL THE TIME. I'M TRY TO BE VERY CONSCIOUS OF WHAT I POINT OUT AND FIND IT TO BE VERY DIFFICULT TO CONCENTRATE ON THE POSITIVE. IT HAS TO BE SOMETHING THAT WE LEARN FROM SOMEWHERE.

Welcome to A2K alstar.

I don't think that we learn it from the media, I think that it's just a natural tendency in most people. I have noticed, however, that the happier I am the more I focus on the good. So perhaps people are just upset and frustrated with their lives.


By the way, when you type in all caps like that, it reads like you're yelling and it's really hard to look at.

Sorry about the all caps but i'm at work and we use all caps. I'm not yelling i promise. and thanks for welcoming me.

I tend to think that because there is so much that is good in the world only the bad is newsworthy.

About three billion people found enough to eat and a warm place to sleep yesterday. About maybe a thousand starved, or were shot, killed by animals, governments, or were run over by autos. I imagine preventable disease and malnutrition (some of it voluntary ie smokers, overeaters, laziness etc.) took out another thousand or so. Most of the rest of the people in the world that died yesterday died of more or less natural causes.

Out of the thousands of babies that were born in the world today most will die of more or less natural causes.

That's not much of a headline

Death isn't necessarily the only bad thing out there.

death isnt really a good thing though is it? or is it?.
life to me is a journey,you get good ,bad and indifferent.
if there wasnt any bad would we appreciate the good?
some things happen in life over which we have no control.
example......you can be travelling in a car when all of a sudden someone travelling the other way loses control and hits you head on you have no control over whats happening there.
some things we can control......our speed in our car....our concentration.....our route we take.

Edit: Double response

I'm not disputing the fact that bad things don't happen, iceman, I'm simply saying that when they do occur we get caught up in those things instead of what's good. And I don't understand how having control over any one event is relevant at all, would you mind explaining your reasoning?

I suppose the question that I should be asking is "Does anyone actually care?" Does it even matter whether or not we focus on either the good or the bad? Perhaps the only real reason that it seems prudent to acknowledge the good as well as the bad is to balance out our inputs. If we see too many grotesque images in one day, we're bound to be unhappy and a little frustrated with life. Whereas seeing both the good and the bad will give us an unbiased view of life on the planet. Or...it could just be my puritan ancestry telling me to focus on the good. Then again, perhaps I'm channelling Rousseau.

I have to question my judgement. Are we too focused on the bad, or is the world simply that ugly?

If we focus on the bad then there is a chance we can make it better.

But for our own peace of mind occasionaly we should tell ourselves that there is actually much more good than bad.

im trying to point out that you can take control over certain events but not others,hence trying to eliminate possible bad things in life.maybe i went off at a bit of tangent,sorry i was tired
bad things do occur,its like a person in the office,every office or workplace has one.the proffessional moaner....ie"oh whats the point"......."its a waste of time"...."it wont work..
therefore does the media represent this in some way.
yep good things happen,bad things happen.
in the news it seems sometimes that we never hear anything good,is it the media think we arent as drawn to good things?lets face it what is more newsworthy??the war in iraq or the old lady who has her cat saved out of the tree?
the thing is that some people have pointed out is that we should learn from our "bad" ways and perhaps if the experience happens again then we could sort it out with a positive response.
unfortunately the word vietnam didnt enter mr bush's head with iraq.so perhaps we dont learn our lessons.ok im off im wandering off the subject again.