Want a good scare? Read the news

As I was skimming the news online, I came across an article about possible killer asteroids that would probably hit Earth in 2036. The article was focusing on what NASA intelligence was planning to do to "ward off" these asteroids. Unless there is some type of asteroid repellent on the market that I don't know about this seems unlikely. Or maybe, they will send a Bruce Willis type hero "Armageddon" style to save the planet. Aerosmith, get another song ready, this time it's for real.

What really confuses me is why tell the public this news? Is it so we can prepare for this? No.

Or how about the countless stories about germs in public bathrooms. I mean, did we really need a news report to tell us that public bathrooms are dirty. No. But on a slow day when nothing bad is happening in the world, these stories fill the need for something that can cause paranoia, like we need any more of that.

By now we all now that bad news is news. And good news isn't as popular. Unless it's odd or unusual. But doesn't it seem lately that every story we read is extreme and over the top?

I think these stories are shared because in this age of reality t.v., celebrity obessesions and other dribble, just how on earth can the local news compete. It works. I clicked to read the asteroid story. In the 1950's for example, a story like the asteroid story would have made its way into a scientific journal. It was not for public consumption and no one would want to hear about it. People wanted to feel protected back then. Now, all the walls are down and we want to know everything. So perhaps the news writers are just giving us what we want. The crazier and more extreme the news, the better.