An idea and an experiment

So, I've been mulling something over in my head for a little while. So far, most people think I'm crazy for even thinking of attempting what I'm about to describe. I want to try carefully controlling the news content I view.

First, let me talk about what my overall goal is here. I would like to find out what drives the horrible things we see on Television and hear on the radio every day. What causes news outlets to describe horrific crimes committed against innocent and undeserving victims. Is it conditioning, or do we have some voracious appetite for horrible images? What if we were to cut all of these scenes of senseless acts against humanity out of our lives? Would our outlook on life and humanity change? Would there be some paradigm shift?

My plan so far is to devise an experiment that will last for one full year. I have not nailed down the exact criteria, or even the exact parameters of the experiment. But, so far I've got the general idea pretty well fleshed out. Because I get almost all of my news from the Internet, I am able to easily filter out what sources I do and do not want to read. I can carefully craft my intake to the point where I no longer see the negative, graphic news from the popular outlets. In fact, I already do this on a simplified basis, and on several occasions I have not known about "popular" stories of the day.

While many people have argued it is not possible to prevent any "bad" news from entering someone's life, I would have to strongly disagree. I firmly believe that with a small amount of effort those that are interested can drastically alter the information they receive throughout the day. Again, using myself as an example- I prefer news about technology rather than news about celebrities. So, on most of of my news sources, I tell their RSS widget that I am uninterested in celebrity news. Thus far, it has worked great.

Hopefully this test will prove fruitful. I hope to not only prove that it is possible to completely dispose of the negative news in our lives, but I would also like to find more sources of more "mainstream" sources of filtered news feeds. Perhaps, if this experiment proves successful, others interested could learn how from me. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to say, "I'm tired of hearing about Britney, Paris, Lindsay, and the others", and then just remove their names from any news items you get in the future?