College Times

Issue date: 10/22/09 Section: Blogs

Media Credit: photos.com

Sometimes it takes a little whining to get things done. Sometimes it's necessary to point out the flaws in things to make others realize what's wrong. But just about any woman in a relationship can tell you that this approach to changing things is usually counterproductive.

It doesn't take a genius to complain about something. Just take a look at any given comment on local news sites. There's an overwhelming sense of pessimism in most of them, feeding more tension and controversy when people disagree. That tension affects the issue itself.

I'm not saying that people should be afraid to disagree. Disagreement is part of the very foundation of what makes America great. There are certain points when people should just agree to disagree, though. It's when people start to hurl insults instead of making logical arguments that disagreement causes more harm than good. It's a vicious circle of negativity.

Several cultures have touched on the subject of negativity. The obvious example would be the Eastern religious concept of Karma, which teaches that you get what you give. If you're negative, negative things come back to you.

The field of Noetic Science has taken a more analytical approach to researching the effects of negativity. In one supposed experiment, participants were told to think negative thoughts about an ice cube, then separately think positive thoughts about another. The "negative" ice cubes formed more aggressive-looking ice crystals and the "positive" ones formed beautiful ones.

Can our negative thoughts really affect the tangible world around us? Many cultures tend to think so, and I'm starting to think so myself.

Here at College Times, we have the luxury of reporting fun, feature news. Some hard news writers might call it "fluff." Sometimes I do too. The whole environment just feels different. Here at CT, our staff knows how to have fun, but maybe it's because we report generally positive stories. I actually like coming to work. My experience as an intern at the East Valley Tribune was very, very different.

Throughout my years of writing columns, the thinking behind them seems to be that they have to be negative. I don't necessarily think that's true. I realize that this column itself has been pretty negative, but I hope to think the positive change it might bring might outweigh its Debbie Downerness.

So, here's my attempt to change that. Have a beautiful day and life, reader.

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