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Switching Channels

Aishwarya

“The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be.”  – Arthur C Clarke

Switching news channels these days is bringing more pain than knowledge. I agree, it is important to know what is going on in the world. But not at the cost of my mental peace!

The newspapers are no different. They scream out the horror stories from around the world. Just the other day, one of the news channels was telecasting a video where the police officials of a particular country were ill treating innocent civilians, some of who were really old and frail, to force them into confessing crimes they were not responsible for. They were kicking brutally at the poor civilians who, in their moment of need and desperation, were calling out to God to seek help. But these brutal policemen paid no heed to either their age or their pleas. And that disturbed me deeply. I can’t get the visuals out of mind.

Some other pieces of news that have affected me quite a bit over the past few months…

  • a small boy, somewhere in India, burning a puppy alive!
  • news about suicide bombing in more than one locations in the world!
  • news about a manic serial killer in Maharashtra!
  • news about a 14 year old girl and her mother being raped on the highway at night
  • news about the curfew in Kashmir

There are so many more things happening in this world…disturbing things. When the news channels flash these things repeatedly, organize debates involving big names who shout relentlessly to make a point (some of which I can barely agree with), speak about these issues in such a disconnected fashion – I feel tense. My heart races as I hear of or see videos of cruel acts against humans and animals and plants alike. I cringe, unable to make sense of or comprehend such behaviour. I cry at times, unable to contain the sorrow.

I ask for the channel to be changed. That’s what I do! I don’t know if that makes you think I’m weak…

But if weakness means being able to absorb someone else’s pain with as much humility as I can and crying with them because I ‘felt’ what they felt, I think there’s a certain charm in weakness!

Speak to me.

Are tears a sign of weakness or of strength?

 

Published by Aishwarya

Just your average person ;)

45 thoughts on “Switching Channels”

  1. Exactly the same has happened with me.All the content shown is apparently nowadays considered as “news”.If you are willing to know about the Rajya Sabha or other lights related,you hardly will find a good news channel as the bunch of them will throw light on various other happenings.As far as the sign of weakness is considered,I don’t think that to be true if you simply change the channel,you are being weak.As we are allowed to remain happy and stable.

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    1. Well happenings of the houses in the Parliament are rarely telecast these days! But I hope our news channels can at least warn before putting up gross videos. I don’t get affected by gore in films but as of today, there is an overdose of brutality and cruelty and that disturbs me deeply!

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  2. It’s saddening indeed. Media portrays the ills of society but do we introspect enough as individuals, how to be more responsible and inculcate the right values to contribute to society in a positive manner. Society is made of ‘we’ and each individual is responsible for making it better, as we are all a valuable part of this ecosystem.

    We gloss over the arrogance and even celebrate the transgressions sometimes. Repeated broadcasting of these behaviours can be counterproductive and induce aberrations, thus, changing behavioural patterns.

    This is where self-realization and utilization of knowledge without the arrogance and passive aggressive attitude come into play. When resentment and abnormal desires are repressed for a long time it drives an individual to self-destruction and also becomes a problem for society.

    Reiterating the problems is not enough it’s time to change our approach to nurture positive and fresh perspective. Enough of trying to hold on to the ideas that have been proven failures.

    Humanity can do much more and everyone is capable in making this world a better place with a humane approach towards life. All sections of society should come together and work cohesively. (I am sorry for the really long reply, but you have written a thought provoking article and I could not stop sharing my thoughts in this).

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    1. Thank you so much Amitav for spending your precious time to share your thoughts here! I have to agree with you, we need to rethink deeply and introspect as to where we are headed as a society. Humanity is a subjective term and one needs to only improve its scope, not encourage its slaughter!
      As for the media, repeated telecasts of certain kinds of news only instigates people and the weaker souls might even try and take the system into their hands in an effort to right certain wrongs. And that’s detrimental to any society!

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  3. Beautifully return, full of feelings and emotions. Tears are generally considered as a sign of weakness but the ones wept hearing someone’s pain, misfortune or sorrow are never symbolizing weakness.It only means how big your heart is and how much caring you are.. A very sensitive topic chosen indeed. Have a nice day..and keep SMILING and make others LAUGH AS WELL

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  4. I seriously don’t know about whether tears are a sign of weakness or not. As far as news is considered these days, there are actually doing it to gain TRP. Human mind is such that it wants to know about negative things. We are easily drawn towards what bad is happening and that’s why they show negative news so that people remain stuck to their channels. I actually read this thing somewhere on the internet. But there are few programs on the news channels that aren’t spreading negativity.

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    1. That’s an interesting thought – that the mind is attracted to negative things. But honestly, mine is not! I run away from negative news, to the extent that I am unaware of a lot of it. Yet the small fraction that I am unfortunately aware of makes me feel sick with sorrow!

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      1. Everyone’s fraction of mind is aware or I can say drawn towards the negative things but that’s dependent on the person. Just like yours is a small fraction, others may have a greater fraction. Even I don’t want to watch negative news like killing, beating, etc but to be aware of what’s happening I just read the headlines and don’t go deep on thinking about it.

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      2. Everyone’s fraction of mind that is aware of negative things is different. Even I don’t like to watch this negative news but in order to be aware of what’s happening, I have to read it. Although I make it a habit of just reading the headlines and don’t go deep into this negativity.

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  5. news is often disheartening, heartbreaking and crying is often a way to cope, not at all a weakness! it is a sign of caring and wading bravely through the dark corridors of life that seem to be increasing daily!

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    1. The dark corridors are everywhere, aren’t they? It’s so sad and disrespectful of this beautiful life we have!
      Thank you for pausing here to write to me. Have a wonderful day. I hope you find smiles and not sorrow along the way!

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  6. I experience the same at times and I guess the people have been aligned to such an extent that they do not try to introspect into what is going on. Another Big factor is ever flooding number of channels in each genre.

    The remote in fact has become far more important than what content is being presented.

    What has become more viral these days is to sell the news(which may not necessarily be important or ethical!). And infact, to an extent it’s the demand of the cut throat competitive environment.

    Ultimately, its the viewers who have to face it all. Someway or the other you can’t control your feelings. An apt example is the increasing number of Reality shows. Even the tears are being encashed, yet no one can refrain from trying on their part. The mere chance is what seems more lucrative and I guess the same is being exploited.

    But someone definitely has to take the initiative to bring about that change and I guess you’ve actually done your bit)!

    ☺👍

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    1. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! It feels good to know that this article has provoked some great comments.
      Reality shows, yes they do cash in on cheap reactions and fake emotions and that’s certainly unacceptable! I don’t particularly enjoy watching them either. I wonder how the content on channels can be controlled! Since I can’t do that, I’d much rather switch channels 🙂

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  7. Ditto what I think!
    I normally don’t watch the news during the morning hours because I don’t want to spend my day mourning or brooding. I listen to music, instead. It gives me peace – inner peace. It’s not that I give a blind eye to what’s happening all around the world, but it’s just that I don’t want to look at all of those and let it affect my day. Maybe it is my weakness. Yet, I love that weakness which makes me happy.

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    1. I agree! Watching the news in the morning is a ridiculous idea merely because of the kind of content that’s aired. I do the same..my mornings are more about music than about television. In fact I hate switching on the television in the morning. Mornings are supposed to be productive hours and I’d much rather conserve my energy to do better things during the day!

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  9. You cried because you were sad, and you have kindness in your heart. And for me that can never be a sign of weakness, rather these are the core strengths of a person. And bad news do affect us, but sometimes it gives us the real picture. Because rapes are happening daily, also the bombings. What we can do to stop these things is the real question? A great post aish…. I feel the same way daily and wonder what to do?
    Shreyans

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    1. Wonder, I do too! I hope we see a change somehow. I think our small bit is in being good citizens of this planet and ensuring that those around us are good citizens too. 🙂
      Thank you for contributing to the discussion here. Your comments are highly valued!

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  10. Aishwarya, I echo the feelings you undergo while watching all those brutal and negative issues that get undue media focus. My heart and eyes swell up when I watch or read about such incidents. I shy away from watching good cinema too, if it has some element of harsh and gut wrenching emotions. Seeing all this disturbs me a lot. I do not understand why the media fails to publicize the work done by the good Samaritans. What we focus on, grows! Why not focus on the goods, positives and remain factual.

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    1. Oh Pokemon go brought out the child in everyone who played it. And yes, the reports about this game were well, irrelevant to the ‘world’ as such but they were at least contributing to a smile on people’s faces!

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    1. I still haven’t been able to stop watching the news as some member or the other ends up sifting through news channels. But I have started reading news on my phone through apps to avoid the disturbing hypes and repeated telecasts!

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    1. thank you so much for your kindness! I don’t want to be more than human… I am a mortal and I do not want to shy away from what I am. I wish though that others behaved a bit like humans too! 😦
      Thank you for pausing here 🙂

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  15. I think they are a sign of strength! Everything happening around the world is so upsetting. I agree we should all be aware of how messed up things are in our world, but this affects us so much and I wish they could also show some of the positive things there are in this world to give people hope and strength to fight this or help alleviate it.

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    1. I wish media were more responsible in the way they handle and telecast content. Like you’ve rightly pointed out, there needs to be a balanced telecast of all kinds of news and not just the negative kind. However it is the negatives that’s blown out of proportion,repeatedly exploited for the way it strikes a viewer and that is both unacceptable and disturbing to me!
      Thank you Fernanda for stopping by here and for choosing to be a part of my blogging journey. Cheers.

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      1. I feel the same way! Right now media focusses on either too negative or too pop culture and we rarely see good deeds making headlines or advancements in social issues or simply a spread of positivity.
        My pleasure, thank you for touching in something like this! 😊

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  16. Shedding tears can give you clarity in a way. It’s hard to look for positivity amidst all the damaging news that is projected on media. News feed on your phone can be filtered and probably give you some peace !

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    1. News feed on my phone let’s me be sane. I cannot possibly afford to be down in the dumps because of news channels and their worrisome content!
      Thank you J for stopping by. You’ve visited after a while. I hope things are well with you!

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  17. Pingback: The tag of eights! | Goin' the extra..aamile

  18. 1. We have the same site layout. I just had to get that out of the way.lol

    To answer your question, tears are a sign of strength, if they come as a response to someone else’s pain; or if you overcame adversity.

    I use to see them as a sign of weakness, but i guess ive matured or something. I agree with this post, watching the news makes my heart ache and head hurt. You might be an empath. I can barely watch tv now. Its too sad and violent.

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      1. No worries, your post covered enough anyway. Yes, tv is way too violent, that’s why the people under 18 are so crazy, and the people over 18 are brainwashed and dead inside. No problem, you made an great post.

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