Change of heart – need your help
March 24, 2008 by Doug
Filed under Miscellaneous
I’d like to make a deal with you and I’m going to need your help with it.
You see, I’ve just spent three months in a warmer climate than Canada and while this is the perk of being a writer with a laptop, it also comes with a price tag.
In this case, I was only able to watch U.S. television. It was a fascinating process but essentially a negative one. And it’s taken me 3 months to get a handle on this thought.
Let me give you a quick and easy example. Barak Obama is running for the Democratic nomination for president. Fox news took a few second clip from a sermon given by his pastor and turned it into a negative diatribe the other tv networks picked up on to defend their own ratings. Interestingly enough, they didn’t watch the entire sermon before joining the howling mob. Turns out that part of what this preacher was quoted on was actually him quoting a prominent Rebublican in former President Reagan’s term. But the network, wanting to have fodder against a democratic candidate and a story, took it out of context and blew it up into a personal attack. This is what, in the United States, passes for news.
Another example is the new show having to do with lie detectors and telling the truth for a million dollars. Turns out this is an excuse to trainwreck some lives while somebody goes for a million bucks. Just the previews are nauseating. What amazes me is not only that the show exists but that some folks actually want to be on it. Bread and circus Roman coliseum warfare had nothing on U.S. television. Highlights of sport fights, cheap hits, political attacks, sensational tv shows of one kind or other abound on all networks.
It’s a race for the bottom.
I’ve noticed a similar kind of thing goes on in the gardening world. Bloggers and writers (myself included in the past) have gone on rants about things that don’t conform to their way of doing things. It’s not enough to present the data, we have to be negative about it in personal ways. That negativity brings us mentions in other blogs (the blogging term for this is linkbait) and possibly more readers because we become known for having a “viewpoint”. For being “entertaining” or controversial.
I’m really quite tired of all this negativity. I’m simply no longer interested in being part of it. I’m not going to hide my head in the sand and ignore it when something goes wrong, but I am going to focus on the the actual data – on the positive. I’m going to give you the data I see (in as complete a way as possible) but I’m going to try very hard to give you positive things you can do to make your small bit of the world a different and better place than when you got here. This is about what you can do – not about what other’s are doing wrong or that I disagree with.
And that’s where I’m going to need your help. I choose the positive side of life. I choose to help others rather than tear them down. I’d rather do something good than have high subscriber levels. I’d rather help folks figure out how to have better gardens than be some blogging sensation. I want you to keep this in mind; if you see me wandering down a negative path you have my permission and request to give me a verbal “slap across the head” on the comments. You folks are the best and quickest feedback system out there – in my experience you’ll tell me when I’m wrong and when I’m right.
And if you tend to have a negative point of view on life, I invite you to subscribe to some other blog or website. If you’re interested in finding positive stories, fun stories and moving gardens to better and healthier states, then I’m delighted to work with you and have you part of my life.
I pick the high road.
I’m so ready for the positive. Nothing could please me more than somebody telling me the little (and maybe not so little) things I can do to have a positive impact on my (our) environment. I already know how bad it is. Everybody has been telling me for my entire life how bad it is. Nice to have somebody say they will tell me how to make it better instead.
I did distribute Earth Hour to my entire address book. Been using compost only, for 2 years. Don’t use pesticides (well, insectacidal soap), don’t bad mouth my neighbors. Teach gardening and food preservation to all the kids around me. So what else can I do? I’m with you the whole way.
Thanks
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June
SO true. Lots of people take things out of context and run with it. Rather than listening to the whole story, we tend to only hear a small portion of it, then we get so caught up on one detail we miss the point.
Hear hear!! Absolutely agree with everything you said.
I agree totally with you. I have stopped watching the news entirely. I feel that not only the news, but television in general is negative. CNN is blocked on our TV. I have pretty much stopped reading the paper for the same reason. I find it hard to stay informed, but a quick scan of the headlines is more than I can stomach anymore. I know what you are saying about needing a quick verbal slap on the ole noggin sometimes to get you back on the positive side of life sometimes. I think we are steeped in such a negative world, that we have to cultivate a positive spin on our thinking–it takes work to cull out all the weeds (negative thinking), but I am hoping that once I have pulled them all out, it just takes a daily diligent walk though the garden paths of my mind to ensure a weed-free positive thought process, and ultimately life! It’s harder than one would think to create a positive outlook, but as for me, stinkin thinkin is a thing of the past.
I look forward to only the good news!
My Dear Doug, I am with you, in fact was there before you arrived.
There is nothing on the regular USA TV channels worth wasting time on. I now have cable and have found several channels worth the effort. When the weather settles the TV will have a prolonged rest. With my clocks set ahead of the Sun by two (2 !) hours, by decree of the Indiana government, I am not in the house until well after 9-10 o’clock in the evening.
In the early 1970s when Life presented me, a farmer’s daughter, with the opportunity to have a large garden I was delighted. With my Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening by Rodale Press, and Ruth Stout’s The No Work Garden Book away I went. My husband had grown up in one of the largest greenhouse gardening areas in the USA Midwest. There was no end to our disagreements on how to do it. Or rather, how I should do it.
I scrounge leaves from the whole neighborhood (already bagged). Use them for mulch at home and in the park garden I am building – even tho, by some standards, “they look dirty”. Put no chemicals on Mother Earth, have bird houses, talk to Earl the Squirrel, and even allow the local opossum and/or raccoon to reside under the deck – as long as it doesn’t trod on my lemon lily.
Your knuckles have been gently rapped a couple of times when I felt was needed. But Hear This: YOURS IS THE ONLY NEWSLETTER THAT I SUBSCRIBE TO, and have since the beginning. In truth, I think you have had an extremely positive attitude from day one. Am I wrong?
Lorra
Thanks for your support folks – appreciate it. And Lorra – she of knuckle-bruising reputation, I try to be positive but – and it’s a big but – it is a tad difficuilt to be positive all the time when surrounded by negativity. Jenny B said it well, – you do indeed have to take a walk through your mind every now and then to clean it out. And that was a spring garden-cleaning venture. And what’s with this “needing knuckles wrapped” talk?
Need??? C’mon. The last person to need knuckle-busting was some poor kid in a 1800′s red schoolhouse. 
Doug,
I absolutely agree. No knuckle rapping is ever necessary. Accentuate the positive. At every opportunity we all need to say “Atta Boy”. And no more of this “one aw ____ negates a years worth of atta boy’s”. I never did think that was fair.
So Doug……
ATTA BOY!!!!!!
You’re my new favorite hero.
June
I also am in total agreement with everything you and the commenters have to say. I think that looking for and appreciating the positive elements of life every day is one of the reasons I am an organic gardener. It is hard not to see the strength and beauty of life in the garden, from all the creepy crawlers in the soil, to beautiful blooms and luscious fruits, birds and butterflies (maybe even the deer) and the grandchildren frolic-ing on the lawn and in the Frog Pond. Sometimes the challenge is to take that positive attitude onto Main Street. But I try.
Doug I have been a fan of yours for years now and getting to know more about gardening and computer stuff, thanks to you.I never thought of you as a negative soul,keep up the great work.
When I found your site long ago it became the first thing I looked at after opening the inbox. Your are so informative and down to earth with a great humor that is always appreciated. Now with the addition of the blogs, I find that there is a lot going on that has nothing to do with gardens, at least in my mind. You are still first “look at” each day. Keep some time for yourself Doug but do keep on giving the newest and best along with the tried and true.
Loraine
How refreshing to find another gardener (and human being) who chooses not to merely float downstream with all the other dead fish so to speak, but instead has decided to swim upstream, against the current!! In the beginning I too was attracted to your gardening site because I liked your sense of humor. I was thrilled to find another Canadian gardener for starters!! plus what you said just made sense to me. Now as I continue to enjoy your gardening knowledge, I also appreciate your values as they closely match my own. That is why I have followed every new adventure you go on lol because Gardening for me is not just a hobby!! When we grow things, we have that positive expectation of a good result. We don’t need to tear others down in order to accomplish great things. I think if more people adopted that viiewpoint, they might just be onto something…
Heather
C’mon Doug, you are usually very positive. While I applaud your goal of avoiding making any negative comments, doing so every now and then only makes you human. I always look forward to your emails since I first signed up. As an American citizen, I find myself feeling embarrassed at what is allowed to pass as entertainment on TV, and more importantly, what passes as “news”. I love that you promote “no chemical” gardening, and continually offer tips and tricks to make it work! And I especially love your sense of humor about gardening, nature and life in general. Keep up the good work!
Doug, I love your newsletter – I have learned so much from it and have become committed to organic gardening. For years My husband and I have avoided listening to the news or reading newspapers – if there is anything important, we usually find out about it. Cable TV offers some good alternatives to the stuff the networks think is entertainment. It is hard to believe that anyone would watch any of the reality shows – what garbage.
Thanks for the heads up about Obama’s pastor. I am going to check that out some more.
As a parent, positive reinforcement has always been in regular use. It is surprising that we should think that once one reaches a certain age the reverse should apply.
Just because one feels strongly about something does not mean that we have to become unpleasant and negative. One does indeed catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
fate