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Good grief! I stopped watching the news several years ago on account of the fact that the last thing I need in my life are more lies, deception, and negativity. Last week I had occasion to catch the TV news a few times and I was downright horrified, but also it was so surreal it kind of made me laugh.

Apparently Americans are trapped beneath a giant heat dome crushing down upon us with suffocating weight. Cut to a heavy-set woman having an asthma attack at the edge of a fountain. “I just literally can’t breath,” she gasps, “the heat is overwhelming.” She is puffing on an inhaler and it is probably about 70 degrees out judging from the light sweaters and jackets being worn by those walking by in the background.

Which brings us to rip currents. If the heat does not kill you outright, any attempts to cool off will surely kill you. Man eating rip currents are coming for you. You can’t see them, you can’t hear them, but they are the silent killers. But wait, we now present some shocking footage of a shark….. swimming in the ocean. Nobody knows how many people will die, but experts predict it could be in the thousands.

Of course, of you avoid the beach, this being America you could always just get shot. Two people were just shot in Arkansas. Yep, Arkansas! Apparently nobody realizes how huge the US really is. My condolences regarding whatever happened in Arkansas, but if you want some real crime statistics, I think Chicago just had about 120 shootings this past weekend. Not sure why nobody ever cares about Chicago. I had no sooner had that very thought, when we suddenly cut back to the shark footage….

Even the commercials during the news where downright miserable! Do you have cancer? Bladder control issues? Mental health problems? Costly auto repairs? Has your spouse abandoned you? Is your home being foreclosed? Are you estranged from your children? Do you have a drinking problem? If not, why not??!

I mean, wowsers! After two minutes of those dreary, doom and gloom commercials, I was eager to get back to the joy of shark attacks. I should clarify here, nobody was actually attacked by a shark in the US, at least not this week, as least as far as I can tell. Judging from all the shark footage you would think that was what you were hearing about, but no, they were addressing potential, future, possible shark attacks!

They were flat out future tripping. Exploiting our negativity bias. Using prophetic vain imaginings to frighten us. Dropping random shark footage to instill fear so our critical thinking skills are diverted.

I remember a time in America when we actually welcomed summer. It was about camping trips and swimming, picnics and ice cream trucks. Vacations, good weather, spending time with family. As unpleasant as hot weather can sometimes be, it is simply called “summer.” It is a seasonal event, not a natural disaster.

Avoid the news. Seriously, there are plenty of really scary things going on in the world that are real. You are NOT going to hear about any of them on the news. And if you try to talk to people about any them, most likely they’ll just dismiss it all as a conspiracy theory anyway.