But you know what has damn little impact on your own life?  The personal tragedy of others.  When the local news runs a story about how some husband has killed himself and his children, they are not attempting to inform you. It does not inform you, or provide you with any sort of useful information.

When they run those stories, they are manipulating you.  Because fear sells.  Fear, as they say, will “keep the systems in line.”

This was the somewhat surprising conclusion of Bowling for Columbine, which everyone seemed to assume would be an anti-gun movie, when in reality, it turned out to be an anti-local news movie.  Since watching it, I have not turned on my local news television.  The only time I missed it was when the Cheyenne station would cover rodeos with journalism students in bad on-camera makeup.

The other day on Facebook, a friend had posted one of these articles that has a singular purpose of frightening you. She commented on how sick it made her feel, and soon there were several other comments from others demanding the crime be punished with a special hell, and so on.  But there’s a simple solution for them — don’t read this garbage.  Making you feel sick is its sole purpose.   Stirring you up, that’s what it is all about.  So turn it off.  Don’t read them.

It’s funny;  some of the same people I see retching at these kinds of news bits would never dare eat bad fast food.  They know what happens when you put something unhealthy in your body.  But when it comes to sensationalistic scare journalism (ie, “Peanut butter.  What you don’t know… may kill your child.  This and more after the break.”), they consume  without concern.

Kill the local news.  Remove it from your life completely and you might find yourself just slightly happier and a hell of a lot less fearful.  And stop watching the cable news television stations as well.  They are just as worthless and stupid.

According to a new study, the introduction of non-native snakes into southern Florida swamps has devastated the population of small mammals, almost completely wiping out some vulnerable species. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the number raccoon and possums spotted in the Everglades has dropped more than 98%, bobcat sightings are down 87%, and rabbits and foxes have not been seen at all in years.

Next time you’re thinking about buying an exotic pet, just go look at the photo in that article.  That should dissuade a good number of you.

I can’t honestly think of an instance where introducing an exotic species into an ecosystem resulted in strengthening the native ecosystem.

“Work, With Occasional Molemen” is now available on the Kindle.