We are all supposed to start the New Year fresh. I decided that this year I would take more time to read the papers, watch the News on TV, and to be honest, I am pretty disappointed. Maybe as I am used to scanning News articles on the net I must subconsciously ignore the sensationalism, scare mongering or whinging, but mate, hard to find an article that doesn't have it :(

The politicians are back from holidays and so far all I have seen in the opposition both federal and state is whinging finger pointing that the Government is not doing this or that... I don't like a lot of what both Governments are doing either, but I want someone to tell me how they will do it 'better', not just whinge. Another thing, it is the rare elected representative you actually see in their own electorate 'doing' anything there? If you are elected to represent a certain area surely you should be actively involved in the concerns of your community? A few of you that are doing that, I applaud you, the others, well, grandstanding once a year to open something really doesn't cut it!

Bullies! There have been a lot of them too, it is amazing how someone can change the tone of their voice, use sensational language, and inspire terror or confusion. Whatever happened to the days when a 'Grub was a Grub' (we didn't worry about their religious background), a 'criminal was a criminal' (regardless of their earnings or race), and Governments were elected to govern & protect us, not inspire fear, put us in danger and then act like our saviours as they save us from the terrors they have inflicted on us?

Every time I turn on the news or open a paper it seems that I am encouraged to be scared of something, be it terrorists, I am a terrible mother and my child will be obese, I will have no money when I retire, I won't be able to afford to drive a car, there will be no water in 12 months & if there is I will be paying 100% more for it, the list goes on & on... Everyone now & then I see a good news story, I reconsider my 'downer' on reported news, then in quite a few cases you get disappointed all over again to find out that they got the exposure because someone was mates with someone, not through merit :(

I am thinking it is now time to go back to scanning the news on the net for pertinent facts, not sensationalism. Preying on people's ignorance of certain issues, sensationalising, is really just bullying in a different form for ratings, political, or commercial gain. If our kids came home from school, terrified by other kids at school we would not cop this, we would be sitting down, working out what was said to who & why, then taking action, be it going to the headmaster, or teaching our child self-esteem to protect themselves and combat this in future.

Taking everything with a 'grain of salt', ignoring hype is the mental note I am going to have in the back of my head in future when watching the news or reading the paper. We were all given a brain and an education for a reason and it was not just to think at work or in business, maybe we have all forgotten to use our powers of reasoning (combined with a healthy does of cynicism) and it is time we did so again... Let's go back to the old days when hype was fun in sport and facts were facts. I know, daggy & naive, but I can hope :)

Best Wishes, Noely, Community Site Co-ordinator