Why we are being fed with so much negativity from all around these days? Our day starts with newspaper headlines such as “CWG disaster, religious clashes, Terror attack, mass murder by Maoists, corruption at the highest level, suicide by student, farmer or a housewife, political/business leader accused of corruption, horrible traffic jams because of a CM’s convoy, incompetent govt. staffs’ attitude, natural calamities like drought, cyclone, earthquake etc, and the list goes on. The whole of India downs its shutters because of a fear of a Bharat Bandh impact or adverse fallout of a court verdict. We barely find a single positive news item in the newspaper these days. Newspapers feed us with sensational stories, because they thrive on creating hype, sensationalism, and fear psychosis among the masses. As per a renowned editor, “fear sells, not peace”. So channels catch the attention of the audience like: (in Hindi) Bomb blast ke baad, pure desh mein sannata ka mahol cha gaya he."
A farmer’s innovative ploughing method/machines cannot become a national news item, where as criminal-murderer turned MLAs/MPs throwing huge parties at a city hotel become a newspaper item. We feel happy to get a daily dose of negativity and sensationalism which titillates our minds, though with a loss of confidence and a sense of dejection about the entire system. We dont read any positive news item even if there is any single item, because our minds are slowly tuned into negative picture, because of the continuous bombardment of these emotions from all around. We don’t protest like the way Amir Khan did in Rang de Basanti, but one thing we do is: we silently scold our state or the country or our babus for the nation's ills from our bathrooms.
Almost all the 24×7 national or regional TV channels bombard us with a daily dose of news items with negativity. We live on or fall prey to these channels’ breaking news gamble which has absolutely no value at all, except corrupting our mind. The news anchors or editors show us completely biased and prejudiced views and news owing allegiance to their sponsors or affiliated parties. We helplessly watch these channels, since we have no other choice for getting information. The tone, tenor, and the approach to a critical problem by the media often vitiate the problem rather than solving it. We all have seen the media’s approach during 26/11 attack or time of any riots. This way, the fourth pillar of democracy, Free Press, has died its natural death in India. As a result, “Truth” suffers ultimately unable to come to the front.
Not only news channels but also almost all the major serials on TVs or films these days depict only the negative shade of human behavior such as infidelity, horror, murder, sex, crime stories with finer details and with a repeat telecast. I wonder when we will be blessed with any positive news or any thought-provoking serials or films. Do we have any hope? The so called big budget films, whether regional or national, have a seriously negative and immature approach towards the cause of the masses. Just imagine the kind of destructive impact on the purest minds of school going kids, who are daily forced to watch a violent face of a gun-toting hero on city billboards. Even some irresponsible parents enjoy watching such violent film scenes on the TV in front of their kids at home or enjoy watching these films with their kids at multiplexes. This creates debilitating impact on the soft and purest mind of a kid. Thus, our kids are daily brought up and fed with so much negativity around.
After reading all the above, we feel, do we have a choice? We have to still depend on this biased media’s way of handling truth. The media claims that all these incidents are happening in our daily life, so what’s wrong in presenting these facts on TV or films or print media. No doubt, a few media channels play a huge role in bringing an issue to the public or showcase the real India around us. But majority of the channels or print media distort a fact and add some spice to the actual news and distort the fact in a biased manner. There is a huge difference between the standards of a BBC/CNN discussion with an Indian TV channel’s discussion on any news of national importance. Their discussions in the TV studios show tremendous level of maturity among the anchors or the guests unlike ours which resemble more like a street fight in a vegetable market. The standards of debates in regional channels are not worth mentioning here.
We don’t learn the positives from our western counterpart; we always like to take the negatives from them. When a Hollywood actress like Julia Roberts turns to India in search of peace, our masses tend to imbibe western culture, which is very much visible in our Bollywood movies barring a few. By surrendering our age-old values, we have lost our true Indian identity in the process.
I will quote Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s popular speech for every Indian here, which was circulated long ago:
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.
Source: http://upscportal.com/civilservices/forum/dr-abdul-kalams-letter-every-indian
No religion or caste or language will have any impact on our life when we know the value of our own life, and the true purpose of life. We will forget the divisive mindsets perpetrated by vested interests. We will find peace within if we know how to find it. Instead of getting affected by external happenings, we need to pray for good and leave it to the Almighty to decide the course of action.
Even while reading newspapers or watching a news channels, we need to be unbiased or impartial to the news feed, and try to judge the news from all angles: why we are being fed such news at the first place or why we are forced to see the pessimistic story or is there anything hidden from us. We need to impose on ourselves extreme restraint instead of getting overwhelmed with euphoria or an emotional frenzy. We should stay away from getting brain washed by these biased channels. The dark characters sitting behind the channels were nicely depicted in some quality movies like “Peepli Live” or “Mumbai Meri Jaan”.
There goes a saying:
“A man becomes what he thinks he is….We should not let any destructive suggestions, thoughts of ill-will, hatred, destruction enter; for merely to think of them is already to give them a power of realisation… One must not admit bad thoughts into oneself under the pretext that they are merely thoughts. They are tools of execution. And one should not allow them to exist in oneself if one doesn’t want them to do their work of destruction.”
I once read a story of a monk, who used to sit on a sea shore of South India, and used to meditate and talk aloud at the sky very early in the morning. Passersby were astonished to see him and wondered about his strange behavior. One day, a person out of curiosity asked him why he is sitting like this over a rock and what he is telling to the sky. The monk replied, “I am sending thousands of good vibes and goodwill to the world daily, so that the people of this world can live peacefully. The world is witnessing so much chaos, conflict, hatred, and confusion all around. So by sending these many positive thoughts, the negative forces surrounding this universe will ultimately vanish, and this world will follow “Truth” and not live in ignorance or fear”. The power of positive vibes will far outweigh the negative vibes and finally “peace” will be restored in the universe.”
I am very much impressed with this selfless noble idea. Can you guess if all our countrymen practically bear this thought, what significant impact it will have on the universe? If instead of getting affected by any negative biased news or thoughts, we all send our goodwill for that news or for that affected person, it will prevent that unforeseen event to happen or diminish any negative fallout. The more the positive vibration around the atmosphere, the more positive will be its impact all around. We can start this practically on our daily life: Instead of beginning with a daily dose of “falsehood” items on the newspaper and getting biased since morning, we should start reading some sacred text or valuable stories which will keep us positive throughout the day. While driving on the Hyderabad roads, known for its notorious traffic and driving sense, we can pray for the entire mass of people who are travelling on the road should not meet with any accident and should return safely home. Not only we can pray for our community or our country, but also we can also pray for those negative evil forces which are out to destroy us. We should pray that these forces or symbol of falsehood should be purified and enlightened with the Truth. This process, if continued by all the people of the country, will send good vibes throughout the atmosphere and prevent or at least lessen any untoward incidents or calamity or any misfortune. The sending of goodwill can be done irrespective of any caste, creed or religion or language.
All the Goodwills will be for the sake of Humanity….
Ultimately “Truth” will triumph….
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