Bad news or good news?

There's bad news and there's good news; which do you want first?

We can easily find an abundance of bad news - which may elicit responses of sadness or anger or fear of impending doom. Some people might try to find something positive in the bad news they hear, while other people seem to revel in finding bad news and redistributing it to everyone who will listen.


There is also good news to be found - if we look hard enough. Recently some of the networks have been deliberately doing "good news" features on their nightly news broadcasts - stories of good will to balance out the negative ones. I appreciate that.

By the way, I am referring to "news" in both a specific and a general sense - both the national and world news on TV or the internet as well as the tidbits of news we encounter throughout the day - like hearing about the latest cancer diagnosis or neighborhood tragedy.

At times it can seem like there is more bad news than good news - and I suppose that might be true - but I think it also has much to do with perspective.

Perspective is a funny thing. Perspective can be influenced by several factors. Factors like temperament, values, and the source of the news. There are probably several others as well but in my attempt to simplify this process for myself, I'm looking at these three.

Temperament
Do I tend to be generally optimistic or more of a downer?

We naturally tend to lean one way or another on the optimist/pessimist range - and perhaps we can't change that natural tendency. But maybe, just maybe, we can tweak it a bit by training ourselves to look at the opposite perspective or at least a different one. Now I happen to like good news better than bad news. I feel happier, safer and more secure when I can hear the news with some kind of positive spin - so I tend to choose to try to see the rose among the thorns. Yes, I might be a Pollyanna, but I'd rather be her than Debbie Downer - which could quite naturally become a default role for me.

Values
Where do I stand on issues?
What things really matter to me?
What are the things I value most highly?

Obviously, things that seem like bad news to me may sound like good news to someone who values different things than I do. And conversely, the things that I hail as good news may sound scary to you if you have landed on the opposite side of an issue. So it makes sense that different people will have differing viewpoints of any given news item. Conservatives may rejoice while liberals mourn the decision of the day - and vice-versa.

In the political realm, I was always a bit confused when my conservative friends would try to make an election strictly about values - and maybe about only one specific value. Be a values voter, they would say. That seemed strange to me because... Well, isn't everyone a values voter? Don't we all vote our values? Don't liberals also vote for people who they think will work for the things they value - like basic human rights, like caring for the poor and for the planet and the environment?

Source 
Where do I get my news?

As I already mentioned, yes, I am referring to which news program I watch every night, but also to the people who I allow to speak into my life about the latest development - whether global or local.

Given the choice, most of us will tune our TV or computer to the channel that aligns with our own values. We want to get our news from someone we can trust - which can't help but include being someone who agrees with me/us. Someone we consider to be telling the truth - because none of us wants to be misinformed.

...

Philip Yancey, one of my favorite authors, spoke of this topic as he looked back over the past year. Obviously there was much bad news in 2014 and he mentioned many of the items: Ebola, missing planes, racial tension, and violence on so many fronts.

But he also included a list of good news from the year - and I appreciate this perspective and the balance he offers by presenting this list.

• Abortions in the US are at their lowest rate since 1976.
• Violent crime has hit a 20-year low, with overall crime falling for fifteen straight years.
• Globally, absolute poverty (what’s necessary to afford minimal standards of food, clothing, health care and shelter) has reached the lowest level in recorded history.
• Deaths from wars in this century are fewer than at any comparable period in the twentieth century.
• Life expectancy continues to rise, reaching 78 in the US and 71 worldwide (up from 59 in 1970).
• Child mortality rates have dropped dramatically in the last forty years while education and literacy rates have soared. 

As for me, certainly I prefer getting my news from someone I can trust, someone who shares my values, but I also want to stretch myself a bit by hearing from those with a different perspective. I just might be able to learn more from someone on the opposite side of the table than from those nearest me.

But I also remind myself of the temperament and personality factors. If I am going to be alert to my own inner battle between optimism and pessimism... If I am going to work hard at having a fair and balanced perspective in my reaction to other people's news... Well, then I also might want to judge my source on the basis of their temperament and personality as well.

Whether referring to my choice of nightly news anchor or my favorite blogger or the sweet old neighbor lady who knows and shares the latest gossip - whoever might be the "source" I listen to for news, maybe I need to consider her record. Is she consistently correct? Is he always angry about something? Does he tend to rant about things? Is she always wringing her hands with worry? Does this source offer an abundance of bad news or do they provide some balance? Do they present a reasonable approach to what is happening?

When someone is always ranting about the awful news in the world, I will likely take their opinion with a grain of salt. If someone can see only one side of an issue with no acknowledgment that there may be other valid opinions, I'm likely to be wary.


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How about you?

There is good news and there is bad news.

Which do you want first?

Or perhaps more aptly, how will you find a balanced and wise perspective?

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...and now I begin to think of an alternate title: Is it bad news or good news?

That's actually what I feel like asking sometimes when someone breathlessly tells me some juicy morsel and I can't tell if they think it is terrible or wonderful. Or maybe it's obvious which label they would use but it doesn't seem quite so obvious to me.

Then again it might actually be a good question to ask myself about any given tidbit of news. Like maybe if instead of immediately judging the information by my own particular prejudices and preparing my personal rant, if maybe I would pause to think about those to whom this is good news or to whom this is bad news, I might be a bit more compassionate.

Maybe.

Maybe it's not always easy to tell if something is good news or bad news.