Random, Post 1: Comic Relief from the End of the World
For the past five years, it has kinda felt like the world is ending. Beginning with the 2016 Presidential Race and crescendo-ing until now, it seems that every ‘breaking news’ alert brings us a tragic, dystopian story of something worse than the day before. When you’re constantly hearing about climate change, potential nuclear warfare, and the collapse of democracy, it can be easy to grow numb. It can be easy to stop paying attention, whether it be in the interest of your own mental health or simply due to desensitization.
Many of us
are undergoing an internal tug of war between the obligation to stay informed and
the need to avoid constant negativity. Despite this conflict, I personally have
continued to receive various news alerts from a few networks. One network that
I’ve had a somewhat complicated relationship with is CNN. In my opinion, CNN
lost quite a bit of credibility during the 2016 Presidential Election: Trump
attacked the network, and in response CNN began promoting a very anti-Trump
agenda. Consequently, I stopped using CNN as my primary news source and began referencing
multiple sources (Reuters, BBC, WSJ, etc.) in pursuit of fact-based information
on current events.
However,
over the past year or so, CNN has wiggled its way back into my heart. Not
because they promote a universally unbiased platform or because they’re the
first to ‘break’ stories. The reason they’ve won me over is that they’ve begun
sending me some of the weirdest, funniest, most irrelevant stories that I’ve
ever seen. When CNN alerts used to come up on my phone, I feared impending
doom. But over the past year, a good portion of these alerts have been quirky, oddly
worded notifications that I’d maybe expect from Clickhole or The
Onion… certainly not from Ted Turner’s CNN. While some of these alerts were
connected to genuine (albeit, random) news stories, others read like satire. A
while ago I began screenshotting the alerts I found amusing, and I have attached
some examples below. I hope they brighten your day as they did mine.
1. National Weather Service warns of falling iguanas
"The National Weather Service issued a rare forecast regarding cold temperatures but it was for iguanas. Yes, you read that correctly. I - guan - as."
January 21, 2020
2. Florida deputies came to the rescue of someone apparently screaming for help. It was a parrot
"Turns out, things aren't always what they seem... or what they sound like"
January 4, 2020
3. Two Amish men escape police after being pulled over for drinking and driving their horse and buggy
"[Deputy] Hermsdorfer turned the horse over to a local farmer until the two men came forward. The sheriff's department has attempted to call different people to pick up the horse, but no one has answered the phone."
September 18, 2019
4. The skeleton wore leather boots
"A team of archaeologists has found a timeless pair of thigh-high boots in a very unlikely place"
December 8, 2019
5. Bones tell grisly secret
"Remains of a Neanderthal child from 115,000 years ago show the child was at least partially eaten by a giant bird"
October 13, 2018
6. The government is blindfolding mountain goats to fly them back to their native habitat in Washington
"If you see some blindfolded goats soaring through the sky, don't freak out"
July 10, 2019
I think it's awesome that you kept all those news alerts. I personally would have to turn those off because at some point I would just ask myself why it is that I am receiving them in the first place. I think a lot of people, including myself, are very desensitized now. I hear about so much bad news that sometimes I just don't think about it for long. It just seems like it happens all too frequently at times.
ReplyDelete-Ryan Chernus
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI definitely believe many people, myself included, are desensitized to the growing list of breaking news headlines over the past few years. I had no idea how funny these CNN posts are. I definitely wouldn't have pictured that being the case.
Hey Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post. I concur, the news networks have made us believe that the world is ending. I'm glad you took notice of the funny articles going around and shared them with us. Let's hope more pleasant news comes.
Best,
Sergios Giannopoulos
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI found your post to be really funny. I think it's interesting that you brought up desensitizing yourself from the news because it seems like it's constantly negative. I feel like CNN puts these funny stories out in order to make the news feel more lighthearted.
Hi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI think it was very smart of CNN to move in this direction with their news, and I've noticed that they've adopted a more conversational style when discussing even very serious subjects. At the same time, I am a little worried that this trend could trivialize the news. Journalism can be very entertaining, but I feel that its primary goal should be to inform people about issues that could potentially affect them. Still, if I see a quirky news story, I'm definitely going to read it.
Rachel -
ReplyDeleteI agree with your views, 100%. Today, there's so much information out there. We have overlooked the politics and filtered out other things like the nature that make this world a wonderful place.
These are super funny! Honestly, I've completely turned off my news notifications just because they seem to flood in everyday and warn me about our impending death and it honestly is just annoying. But this is really making me reconsider having these alerts on. They certainly made my day a bit happier. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete