That negative news, beside the economic crisis; various conspiracy theories and all the doom and gloom you read anywhere makes everyone a lot unhappier and spread even more fear?

The media is very powerful in influencing public opinion. So I say yes, to some extent.

as violence breeds violence, fear breeds fear, and some religions want the world to come to an end to meet a maker of some kind, despite what others want. their selfishness knows no bounds.....those people will bring it on us all, for their energy, negative and strong, will, in the end get what they want. predominantly the two religions in the middle east where they meet in the gaza strip is all negative. they believe they are right enough to kill anyone that dis-agrees with them....even though it's against their own written laws to kill......go figure.
it flourishes here as well. when i lived in the city, daily, i had people say that they couldn't wait for the end of the world becausethey were going to heaven, and since i was "the devil's work" they'd watch me burn worse that hitler, stalin, and mao tse tung combined...spawn of satan they called me i think. i would egg them on, saying that i was 663 years of age, and in three more years, i would be 666 years old. it would make em stop bothering me at any rate. as they carried their giant wooden crosses to bug some other poor soul on bourbon st.

Definitely yes, in fact I think it can be very overwhelming for young adults and influences them very much. To the point that they feel sometimes they can't make any sense of things...kinda like losing control...

Absolutely.

If we really want things to change for the better we can only start with ourselves and what we put out there. If what we put out there is negative, that is what we will get returned.

I can't speak for all, but as for myself, the reality keeps me alert. The feel-good I am anyway, I don't need happy stories to reinforce my positive outlook.

But, happy feel-good stories make me complacent, and I hate that. Got to keep my eyes on the target.

I find I don't need happy stories to reinforce my positive outlook either, though they do help to heighten it. But feel good stories certainly don't make me complacent, that's interesting. Reality is both positive and negative, alert can be amidst fear and something stimulating such as a good news story.

The news as we know it, is owned by whom?

And which political parties do they sponsor?

Welcome to the world of puppeteers...we are fed what they want us to believe...it IS manipulation...and No, the Emporer is really NOT wearing any clothes.

If you turned your media machines off, for one week...how different will your life be?

Will natural disasters still happen? Yes.

Will politicians still bicker? Yes.

Will there still be stupid wars? Yes.

WIll there still be violence? yes.

Will you still feel a subtle sense of hopelessness, of uselessness to change things? Not as much.

If we focus on BEING the change we want in this world, and more and more people choose that over apathy, it would be different... and there would be less negativity surrounding us, bombarding us, invading us.

hey lee

wag the dog

And yet, it's hard to believe that a few at the top can control and influence society as a whole?

those that control the money control the wag