A Positive Rant

 
There was once an old song – no longer heard -  and written way back in about the 1940s. It was called – or at least some of it went like this, ‘You’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative…’
And that’s what I wish everyone would do more of today.
 
Hands up if you’re sick of hearing nothing but ‘doom and gloom’ in television and radio reports lately. Newspapers are full of horror, terror, sad news and scandal.
Surely there’s more to what’s going on than that.
Or ask the question, ‘is there anything positive happening in the world?’
‘Any happy news?’
Of course there is.
 
I attended a school graduation night not so long ago and the principal’s speech, contained not only accompanying relevant, yet humorous, graphics, but was full of happy, positive and affirmative messages of what had been happening at the school and what was likely to be in the future.
It raised the mood of all in the auditorium to a higher level. (Something not often achieved at a school ‘Speech Night’!)
Imagine if we had politicians who were able to convey such messages.
 
Imagine if the media in all its forms relayed mostly stories of accomplishment and hope and positive reinforcement of daily happenings.
Sure, we have the little ‘puff’ pieces of kittens being rescued from drainpipes and small children doing good deeds – I suspect mainly because of the photo opportunities.
But what of world deeds?
And, yes I did read about Angela Merkel being named Time’s ‘Person of the Year’ – and well deserved too.
 
But…but…is it too much to ask for the media (and politicians) to relate information that puts a different slant on current world events? Stop the alarming headlines and public rants about the horrors of terrorism and tell more of the good that is being done throughout the world.
Put the positive events in the page 1 headlines and put the awful stuff into page 5, instead of the other way round.
Have the affirmative news be the first (screaming) announcement on the tv news and hide the awful stuff near the end.
 
Am I being naïve? Possibly
But, although it may not be the ‘usual’ or ‘acceptable’ way, maybe it could help avoid upsetting, alienating and angering some of the young and susceptible.
 
And, another thing – though I’m sure that it’s way too late and it’s a ‘the horse has bolted’ situation. But…but…who was it who decided to make almost all computer games full of shooting and killing? Not the kids, I’m sure.
To quote journalist Phillip Adams, in The Australian newspaper a short while ago, ‘killing people remains the most popular form of mass entertainment’.
How dreadful - but true - is that?
And, come to think of it, who decides that a film such as ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ deserves an Oscar? A film that uses (again quoting Philip Adams) ‘lurid violence as slapstick’ while ‘critics who should have known better (and thought deeper) laughed along’.
 
Could we even dream of replacing violence with happy constructive ‘adventure’?
 
Imagine if most computer games had a rewarding HAPPY (still ‘victorious’)  outcome and most movies and tv shows consisted of positive, uplifting stories.
 
But they don’t and they won’t!
 
What a sorry state the world is in.
Is it too much to ask for those responsible for broadcasting to the masses, to
‘accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative’ – even a little?
 
PS: I believe that the second verse of the old song goes something like:
‘You've got to spread joy up to the maximum, bring gloom down to the minimum’

How about it?

AND PLEASE MAY THE PARIS CLIMATE CHANGE TALKS RESULT IN SOME REAL, LASTING AND POSITIVE DEEDS!