NFs and the Global Village

[Jack Flak]

I had an epiphany. You, being NF, tell me how accurate it is. I don't have much to say of it other than:

It doesn't seem NFs are built for an environment in which news of the wicked can reach them from anywhere on the globe without hindrance.

Add: This is not criticism in any way, shape or form, only an attempt to better understand the NFs relation to the world.

[disregard]

:rolleyes2:

And why is that?

[Jack Flak]

Because it has the potential to be psychologically harmful.

[Edahn]

It wouldn't not be easier if you didn't not use so few double negatives.

[SuperFob]

I had an epiphany. You, being NF, tell me how accurate it is. I don't have much to say of it other than:

It doesn't seem NFs are built for an environment in which news of the wicked can reach them from anywhere on the globe without hindrance.
Not very accurate :D

[Lizzy1813]

It wouldn't not be easier if you didn't not use so few double negatives.

:rofl1: Love it!

[Jack Flak]

I should definitely have posted this in the upcoming NT Private Forum.

[Edahn]

I should definitely have posted this in the upcoming NT Private Forum.

I guess, if all you wanted was to bash NFs and make yourself feel superior. But I think that shtick is getting old.

[Jack Flak]

I guess, if all you wanted was to bash NFs and make yourself feel superior. But I think that shtick is getting old.
That's not what I had in mind--It wasn't even criticism. I have noticed that many NFs take personally that which is entirely out of their realm of influence.

To take the thread as an insult is an irrational instinct, and as such, I should have expected almost everyone to read it the wrong way, since people are rarely rational. Alas, the time between the thought and the posting of the thread was about 10 seconds, so I didn't give myself the chance.

[sanveane]

I didn't think it was about bashing NFs fwiw. I was going to ask if you meant that NFs have difficulty shutting themselves off from those things which might bother them most?

[edcoaching]

That's not what I had in mind--It wasn't even criticism. I have noticed that many NFs take personally that which is entirely out of their realm of influence. To take the thread as an insult is an irrational instinct, and as such, should have expected almost everyone to read it the wrong way, since people are rarely rational. Alas, the time between the thought and the posting of the thread was about 10 seconds, so I didn't give myself the chance.

Actually, bad news isn't paralyzing but energizing to do my part in my sphere of influence. Rather than think that there's nothing I can do, I just work harder, hoping for the "pay it forward" effect, that someone I touch will go on to solve even bigger problems.

Is that rational? Not logical but rational?

[Jack Flak]

I didn't think it was about bashing NFs fwiw. I was going to ask if you meant that NFs have difficulty shutting themselves off from those things which might bother them most?
Exactly. Before the information age, news was filtered a great deal more, to a greater degree the farther we go back in time.

[disregard]

Actually, your choice of rhetoric ("news of the wicked") was indeed insulting, for those that could actually be insulted by someone such as yourself.

[runvardh]

Eh, it sucks to hear about it because the effects can be intuited upon ones self due to how we operate. However, an NF that has reached a certain level of maturity can typically handle the effects semi rationally to rationally and not let it totally kill them. Empathy is just another tool that needs to be used properly.

[Jack Flak]

Actually, bad news isn't paralyzing but energizing to do my part in my sphere of influence. Rather than think that there's nothing I can do, I just work harder, hoping for the "pay it forward" effect, that someone I touch will go on to solve even bigger problems.

Is that rational? Not logical but rational?
That's logical and rational, and relates to the question at hand. Thank you.

[Jack Flak]

Actually, your choice of rhetoric ("news of the wicked") was indeed insulting, for those that could actually be insulted by someone such as yourself.
By "news of the wicked" I referred to, and only to "Tales of horrible things happening in the world." Did you misunderstand me?

[Edahn]

That's not what I had in mind--It wasn't even criticism. I have noticed that many NFs take personally that which is entirely out of their realm of influence. To take the thread as an insult is an irrational instinct, and as such, should have expected almost everyone to read it the wrong way, since people are rarely rational. Alas, the time between the thought and the posting of the thread was about 10 seconds, so I didn't give myself the chance.

Okay.

[heart]

I have noticed that many NFs take personally that which is entirely out of their realm of influence.

Life is personal to F. It doesn't necessarily mean F's ought to be sheltered.

[Kyrielle]

I had an epiphany. You, being NF, tell me how accurate it is. I don't have much to say of it other than:

It doesn't seem NFs are built for an environment in which news of the wicked can reach them from anywhere on the globe without hindrance.

Hmm. Well, on one hand, I hate that I hear about a rape/murder/severe car crash/abduction on the news every single day. I'm aware it happens, I just don't like being reminded of it so often. On the other hand, I like that I can hear about what's going on around the world, even if it is bad news. It keeps me driven to keep going and doing what I'm doing because I'm sure what I want to do (tell stories) will in some way, down the line, help someone who is having trouble--not that that is my primary goal, just seems like a happy incident. I suppose it also gives me a bit of perspective. No matter how bad my life might seem at the moment, someone else's life is just as bad if not worse, so I should probably get over whatever the issue is.

[Jack Flak]

Life is personal to F. It doesn't necessarily mean F's ought to be sheltered.
Certainly not, it's just analysis.

[heart]

Exactly. Before the information age, news was filtered a great deal more, to a greater degree the farther we go back in time.

People lived in far worse conditions with a lot more death in the past, if anything modern people become more sanitized, more seperated from such things. It's true that media distorts what happens in the real world. That's something television in particular (http://mackwhite.com/tv.html)had brought to the modern world, even tone of voice is used to put a specific slant on stories that we're given to make us react in different ways to news.

[Jack Flak]

Hmm. Well, on one hand, I hate that I hear about a rape/murder/severe car crash/abduction on the news every single day. I'm aware it happens, I just don't like being reminded of it so often. On the other hand, I like that I can hear about what's going on around the world, even if it is bad news. It keeps me driven to keep going and doing what I'm doing because I'm sure what I want to do (tell stories) will in some way, down the line, help someone who is having trouble--not that that is my primary goal, just seems like a happy incident. I suppose it also gives me a bit of perspective. No matter how bad my life might seem at the moment, someone else's life is just as bad if not worse, so I should probably get over whatever the issue is.
This is nice to hear from more than one person, because the good side of the issue hadn't occured to me.

[nolla]

I don't find it hard to shut it off. But I rarely consider the people they show on tv to even exist. It's like they are on a different dimension or something. Only people that exist are the people I have some contact with.

[sanveane]

Exactly. Before the information age, news was filtered a great deal more, to a greater degree the farther we go back in time.

In that case, yes, I definitely used to have an issue with this. (gad I wish I could explain it without getting flowery or martyr-y sounding). Anyway, I used to feel like coming across awful tragedies was something thrust upon me and it felt wrong to me as a fellow human being to turn away from someone else's suffering. The least I could do was inform myself properly about such things. Not in a voyeuristic way. I couldn't stand being shielded and wanted to know precisely the reasons why bad things occurred. I was always interested in the 'darker' workings of things, trying to comprehend how and why such things occurred.

It was always done privately though. I wouldn't sit around talking about it, just observing and absorbing. I have a much better ability to filter things now.

[Jack Flak]

People lived in far worse conditions with a lot more death in the past, if anything modern people become more sanitized, more seperated from such things. It's true that media distorts what happens in the real world. That's something television in particular (http://mackwhite.com/tv.html)had brought to the modern world, even tone of voice is used to put a specific slant on stories that we're given to make us react in different ways to news.
What about the changes in the last twenty years or so? The amount of information available to the average Westerner has certainly increased exponentially.

[heart]

What about the changes in the last twenty years or so? The amount of information available to the average Westerner has certainly increased exponentially.

It's all so relative though. In the past people lived so differently than we do, might have burried several family members by mid-twenties, including some of their own children, having borne them at home and nursed them as they lay dying all on their own. So they lived with death much more initmately than we do. Life was far more raw and real to them.

What we deal with now is the manipulation and concentration of information and that creates distortion. It isn't so much the amount but how it is presented to us that creates the anxiety that people suffer.

[Jack Flak]

It's all so relative though. In the past people lived so differently than we do, might have burried several family members by mid-twenties, including some of their own children, having borne them at home and nursed them as they lay dying all on their own. So they lived with death much more initmately than we do. Life was far more raw and real to them.
I understand. I suppose it's only conjecture comparing our modern emotions with theirs.

What we deal with now is the manipulation and concentration of information and that creates distortion. It isn't so much the amount but how it is presented to us that creates the anxiety that people suffer.If I take your meaning, it's deception which gets to you more than the news itself?

[heart]

I see it jerking the emotions of the people around me and it's really bothersome. Anyone who wants to won their own mind and thoughts (or at least work towards trying to own their own mind and thoughts) should read about TV and alpha states and how this can open up the primative parts of the brain and by-pass the higher parts. Also how tone and color and symbolism can communicate with these lower parts. News on TV seems to be so much about producing anxiety and a need to report in everyday to be told how to feel and what to think about issues.

[cascademn]

It doesn't seem NFs are built for an environment in which news of the wicked can reach them from anywhere on the globe without hindrance.

I think this applies to me. Five years ago, after I was becoming too pessimestic/worked up, I ceased to read the news or watch the news. And actually that lasted until maybe a year ago; I was just much more at peace being ignorant.

Now I've started making it a point to keep up with world news, and am able to absorb it (for the most part) in more of a detached way, and I like being more informed.

In general though I kinda have a problem with the speed/ease at which news is available. I think much of it is too slanted/biased, and especially with local news, down to the minutia of tabulating daily murders/atrocities, I fail to see the 'point', if you will, of broadcasting that to all. I just don't think anything positive can really come of it. Could instead increase paranoia in the masses, or whatever. Or take the financial market the past few weeks...what impact does minute-to-minute stock snapshots have, compared to if it was only a 24hr snapshot, etc...other topics too. But, that's another discussion.

I don't think I'm to the point as a few others on here where I feel the knowledge empowers me and I feel like I can do something with it to enact change - because frankly, I don't think I can, with most things that I actually care about. I think nearly everything is out of my control, which can upset me. But yeah, the one positive thing the knowledge does is that it makes me realize how I am one of the elite few in the world who is as privileged as I am (and with that can sometimes come guilt..which, meh, isn't great either) - so yeah, it most definitely puts things in perspective.

And without a doubt, to echo what others have already said - I also know that I am totally empowered to be a positive influence (or whatever) with those around me...so that's good. So really, I'm not all doom and gloom about this topic, just trying to be honest too!

[nolla]

I see it jerking the emotions of the people around me and it's really bothersome. Anyone who wants to won their own mind and thoughts (or at least work towards trying to own their own mind and thoughts) should read about TV and alpha states and how this can open up the primative parts of the brain and by-pass the higher parts. Also how tone and color and symbolism can communicate with these lower parts. News on TV seems to be so much about producing anxiety and a need to report in everyday to be told how to feel and what to think about issues.

I don't think they manipulate the color tones to make you feel something. Not in the news at least. In the commercials, most definitely, but news.. nah... At least around here they are too busy making the news, it would be too big a bother to try giving it some hidden meaning.

[Jack Flak]

cascademn: I feel similarly disgusted by a lot of it, though it doesn't usually have a great effect on my emotional state.

[cascademn]

cascademn: I feel similarly disgusted by a lot of it, though it doesn't usually have a great effect on my emotional state.

Yeah, I edited my original post a bit at the end to kinda cover this...

I'm not nearly as affected as I used to be, but yeah, part of it is a balancing act, as I do avoid certain news avenues (erm, that would be pretty much all tv news) that I know will just irritate the crap out of me.

[SuperFob]

I think that if you know someone is a feeler, something that he/she may say that is open to interpretation ends up being perceived to the extremes. I wasn't pissed off when I made my original post, even if its bluntness made it seem like that. I guess that when people see the 'INFJ' next to my name, every little sarcastic statement I make starts to stick out more, even if I was only fooling around when I made them. I just want to make it clear that I never wanted to look pissed off.

I don't have any problems with the question and I think its perfectly valid and rational. Personally, I'm not that effected by things I hear on the news, and I consider that a bad thing. Whenever I hear about rapes and murders etc., I try to feel sad about it, but I just can't bring myself to empathize, and that worries me. It makes me feel like an emotionless, selfish prick who's oblivious to everyone else's problems. I guess that part of it has to do with the post-traumatic stress disorder that I've been going through, which has kept me pretty numb to emotion over the past few years, but... I just don't know. I wish that I could start worrying about other people, but it's hard for me to do that. Maybe I'm just selfish.

[SillyGoose]

I identify with what you stated partially, Jack Flack.

It bothers me to hear about kids without homes, rapes, murders and whatnot. But it has motivated me to do something about it. I'm in the process of filming a documentary and have plans to adopt within the next few years.

It doesn't totally wreck my world, but it does cause me to ponder about what is important in life to me and how I can help others.

[Jack Flak]

I personally appreciate the replies, as I seem to have a better understanding already. I hope it benefits others as well. Thanks.

[LadyJaye]

I identify with what you stated partially, Jack Flack.

It bothers me to hear about kids without homes, rapes, murders and whatnot. But it has motivated me to do something about it. I'm in the process of filming a documentary and have plans to adopt within the next few years.

It doesn't totally wreck my world, but it does cause me to ponder about what is important in life to me and how I can help others.

This is how I feel about it too. Mostly, I find the constant stories about need/poverty/violence/corruption/disease draining because it never fails to trip my instinct to aid the victims. Sometimes my family and friends have to shield me a little from myself, because I can't stop myself from feeling jacked into humanity, even when I should step back from it some.

[Members Only]

It bothers me enough to try and attain a position in life where I can enact positive change.

However, when I say it "bothers me enough", by this I do not mean I cry every time I hear about the things that are wrong with the world. I just assume that at the moment, as I am incapable of enacting change in this current stage of my life, it would be completely illogical for me to form negative emotions around events that are outside my sphere of influence.

Therefore, I do not let events outside of my influence create negative emotions within me. I persuade them to create a positive spark within me, so eventually I can attain a position where I will be able to assert some kind of influence on negative circumstances. Creating negative emotions within myself, will only serve to inhibit me from reaching this goal.

[heart]

Katrina was particularly hard to process.

[SillyGoose]

This is how I feel about it too. Mostly, I find the constant stories about need/poverty/violence/corruption/disease draining because it never fails to trip my instinct to aid the victims. Sometimes my family and friends have to shield me a little from myself, because I can't stop myself from feeling jacked into humanity, even when I should step back from it some.

Yes, I had to learn to create some barriers within myself with help of family and friends. When I was younger I couldn't understand why some people would tell me not to help (their way of trying to help me help myself) when I couldn't fathom WHY!!! There's people suffering, kids need help...I HAVE to do something...and then fretting and worrying because I feel like I can't.

Getting older and gaining some maturity (hahaha) and having more resources to actually do something about just a few things has helped me overall and the whole wickedness of the world doesn't effect me nearly as much as it once did.

[Members Only]

Katrina was particularly hard to process.

How so?

To be honest, I found Katrina slightly more disconcerting than 9/11.

Whilst 9/11 did have an element of "Shock and Awe", it did not produce a fundamental, prolonged, break down in society.

What I found disconcerting about Katrina, was that it demonstrated how thin the line is, between civilization, and 'rule of the jungle'. Seeing the fabric of a civilized Western city tear so easily, and turn into a fairly Darwinian situation was very strange to observe. It just served to show how quickly what we all take for granted can unravel.

[Silently Honest]

In all honesty, after seeing so much, you kind of get to the point where if it doesn't directly effect you, you try not to think about it, that doesn't mean you don't, you just put it in the back of your mind as you go about your daily affairs.

Desensitization, is it a coping mechanism?

[LadyJaye]

Yes, I had to learn to create some barriers within myself with help of family and friends. When I was younger I couldn't understand why some people would tell me not to help (their way of trying to help me help myself) when I couldn't fathom WHY!!! There's people suffering, kids need help...I HAVE to do something...and then fretting and worrying because I feel like I can't.

I do the fretting! I actually had to train myself to say, " I'm not going to worry about this now" because I would sit up all night pouring over a problem. I couldn't stand the torture of knowing that someone else was suffering if I could prevent it somehow. Or at least having long discussions with God about something I'd seen that disturbed me, children starving, or people being abused. I couldn't process it alone sometimes.

[heart]

How so?

To be honest, I found Katrina slightly more disconcerting than 9/11.

Whilst 9/11 did have an element of "Shock and Awe", it did not produce a fundamental, prolonged, break down in society.

I found Katrina to be way more disturbing than 9/11. 9/11 was a terrorist attack. Katrina was our nation failing its own people.



What I found disconcerting about Katrina, was that it demonstrated how thin the line is, between civilization, and 'rule of the jungle'. Seeing the fabric of a civilized Western city tear so easily, and turn into a fairly Darwinian situation was very strange to observe. It just served to show how quickly what we all take for granted can unravel.

I don't believe Katrina had to go down the way it did at all. I don't think it was a sign of the thin wall of civilzation falling at the moment the levies broke , I think it was a sign of what happens when warnings go unheeded and action is not taken. Nothing had to unravel as it did in Katrina and that's the real horror and crime of it.

Further disturbing was the willingness for the other people in this nation to not question deeper why warnings went unheeded and why action was delayed. I don't know how much racism and classism played into that but it sickens me to think about it.

I certainly will be looking forward to the personal stories that begin to leak out of New Orleans as time passes and proper historical perspective can be gained on what exactly happened there. All we can know now is the media spin. But there is a definate trail that points to years of denial that led up to the weakening of the levies.

[SillyGoose]

I do the fretting! I actually had to train myself to say, " I'm not going to worry about this now" because I would sit up all night pouring over a problem. I couldn't stand the torture of knowing that someone else was suffering if I could prevent it somehow. Or at least having long discussions with God about something I'd seen that disturbed me, children starving, or people being abused. I couldn't process it alone sometimes.

Oh my gosh, I know. It would help immensely (sp?) just by talking about it to someone.

:hug:

[heart]

Honestly, I usually just get more disturbed talking with others. So many people I know vacilate between being totally overemotional to being numbed out. There's no middle rational ground where they will talk about things so far as looking at root causes or anything.

[LadyJaye]

Oh my gosh, I know. It would help immensely (sp?) just by talking about it to someone.

:hug:

LOL. Looks like we fell off the same tree.

When I was younger, I used to go and wake my mother up, and pour it all out to her, even if I felt ridiculous about it. Once, when Pink and I were driving home, we were coming up the boulevard, and this guy who clearly had muscular dystrophy was crossing the street - I looked into the rear view mirror to check and make sure he made it across the street, and I saw him FALL into the curb trying to get onto the other side. I flipped out, because he was in danger of being hit by an oncoming car. Pink was trying to slow the car down, find a place to pull over, but we couldn't because we were on a four lane street - I looked back and saw that he had gotten back up onto the curb and had continued on okay, but the image of him wallowing around in the road like a baby deer was too much. We got home, and I sat out on the porch until my mother got home, when all the tears I'd been holding in came flooding out.

Lol. I have to laugh at myself sometimes, at how much things bother me. But, I can't control the instinct - people's well being really matters to me, on a core level. It's automatic.

[Members Only]

I found Katrina to be way more disturbing than 9/11. 9/11 was a terrorist attack. Katrina was our nation failing its own people.

9/11 was/could also be a case of the Government failing the people. And that can be taken in many directions.

I don't believe Katrina had to go down the way it did at all. I don't think it was a sign of the thin wall of civilzation falling at the moment the levies broke , I think it was a sign of what happens when warnings go unheeded and action is not taken. Nothing had to unravel as it did in Katrina and that's the real horror and crime of it.

Further disturbing was the willingness for the other people in this nation to not question deeper why warnings went unheeded and why action was delayed. I don't know how much racism and classism played into that but it sickens me to think about it.

I certainly will be looking forward to the personal stories that begin to leak out of New Orleans as time passes and proper historical perspective can be gained on what exactly happened there. All we can know now is the media spin. But there is a definate trail that points to years of denial that led up to the weakening of the levies.

Very true, all though the Goverment reaction was less disconcerting to me because, and it's a sad state of affairs when prior evidence leads me to this kind of thinking... I expected it. I expected the Goverments reactions to be at best inept, at worse criminal.

The US Government in its current state, is corrupt, bloated, diseased, and a poison to the nation. The same goes for the Government of the UK.

A Government serves its people, not the other way around. This got switched somewhere along the way, and most people accept it.

[Jack Flak]

Lol. I have to laugh at myself sometimes, at how much things bother me. But, I can't control the instinct - people's well being really matters to me, on a core level. It's automatic.
That's the beauty of humanity though, isn't it?

[SillyGoose]

Ooooo yeah, I have similar stories as well.

A few years ago I saw a guy in a wheelchair hit by a van, (at a really low speed, but still) it knocked his chair over and he was knocked out for a few minutes. I stayed with him until an ambulance came but they wouldn't let me come with him. I kept calling the hospital from work and they wouldn't give me any info at all whatsoever.

I couldn't stop thinking about him, still haven't in fact. My co-workers were so nice (and I wasn't a walking emotional wreck you t's hahaha) and supportive, it was helpful just being able to get it out.

[heart]

9/11 was/could also be a case of the Government failing the people. And that can be taken in many directions.

The most distrubing thing about Katrina was the nation's reactions to the failures. I think people got very worked up/concerned about 9/11 but not so much about Katrina. I saw/heard more contempt for those left behind and abandoned than I saw/heard concern.


Very true, all though the Goverment reaction was less disconcerting to me because, and it's a sad state of affairs when prior evidence leads me to this kind of thinking... I expected it. I expected the Goverments reactions to be at best inept, at worse criminal.

The US Government in its current state, is corrupt, bloated, diseased, and a poison to the nation. The same goes for the Government of the UK.

A Government serves its people, not the other way around. This got switched somewhere along the way, and most people accept it.

Yes, I should have seen it this way, but for some reason it just hit me very hard that the nation basically stood by twiddling thumbs as if we'd never faced a natural disaster before.

[proteanmix]

I had an epiphany. You, being NF, tell me how accurate it is. I don't have much to say of it other than:

It doesn't seem NFs are built for an environment in which news of the wicked can reach them from anywhere on the globe without hindrance.

Add: This is not criticism in any way, shape or form, only an attempt to better understand the NFs relation to the world.

That epiphany is incredibly loaded. The most basic thing I can suggest is "Ask, don't tell" e.g. ask NFs how they deal with the harsh realities of life. Then ask SFs or other types to see how they deal so you'll have a basis for comparison to see if your theory is true. Can you explain what you mean when you say hindrance? I'm not really sure what information you expect to get back that will confirm or deny what you think. I'd guess I'd wonder how all types deal and then sort to see if there are anything specific to the way NFs cope.

BAH, MBTI as it's commonly presented is losing it's appeal. I don't even know if I can blame you for asking your question like you did. There are some threads around here asking NFs are they hypersensitive and the consensus was yes, and are they super intense and the consensus was yes, so I guess it's not surprising that you'd ask this question, which is why I think threads like that do more harm than good. I think people are so caught up in forcing themselves into the stereotypical NF mold that they just sound silly, so yeah the more I think about it the more your question makes sense.

For me, I've never thought of myself as one who needs to be shielded from the thorns of life. In fact, I'm pretty disdainful of people who run around muttering platitudes like "it's going to be OK!" and blindly skip around sniffing roses going on and on about sunsets.

Life is real, people have real problems and living in a fantasy hardly helps people cope with the realities of life. I'm not ethereal and shimmery. I'm a tangible person (maybe that makes me not an NF??). If NFs are supposedly skilled in coaching, teaching, counseling, and communicating then I'd think the ability to cope with the harsh realities of life is somewhat of a prerequisite. But I think that's a prerequisite for anyone who wants to lead a healthy life.

[Jack Flak]

^Will respond via PM. Have added that which may be of general interest:

"Hindrance" refers to the data. Through most of human history, people have not had easy access to information outside their direct observation. Things have changed, which is the subject of my contemplation. I have noticed behavior which alludes to perturberance in NFs, less so in other types.

I am the last person to become caught up in a trend-of-stereotype. I've been studying types for a long time, and my hypotheses are ultimately based on my own observations.

I don't believe people usually force themselves into molds, nor should they. People don't follow rules, they act based on their motivations, and how they act allows them to potentially be classified and studied. Tendencies of those in a classification can be noticed and discussed.

Hence, this discussion, which was intended not only to gain feedback for myself, but to provide for NFs' contemplation of their own psyches.

[Anja]

As someone who carries a good ability to identify with other people and feels intensely, I have learned that a steady diet of unpleasant news is not mentally healthy. But I don't imagine it would be healthy for any healthy person.

It's something I've thought about. Is the world going to hell in a handbasket or did we prairie folk just think we had good neighbors because they were so far away we couldn't hear them beating their kids?

At any rate, I think many other types get irritated by the steady stream of bad news which is so readily available all around us. I've learned to limit my intake of the daily horrors to maintain a positive spirit.

Those who read the election news, economic news, whatever, constantly, tend to be the ones going off on preoccupied rants. It does have an effect on all personality types, I think. TMI, too much stimulation, too much sorrow = unhappiness and distress for the consumer. Or in the case of sociopathic types who feed off it, disastrous results for the public in general.

There's an unoffended NF's perspective.

[Bella]

I guess, if all you wanted was to bash NFs and make yourself feel superior. But I think that shtick is getting old.

The Moderator sure is rude to people.........

[Silently Honest]

The Moderator sure is rude to people.........
It's only rude if it isn't warranted.

[cafe]

Exactly. Before the information age, news was filtered a great deal more, to a greater degree the farther we go back in time.
This is why I rarely watch TV news. There's so much I really can do nothing about, so I'm okay with a little blissful ignorance.

[colmena]

Sometimes I'm sensitive to everything.
Sometimes not caring is a good coping strategy.
Sometimes I just don't care.

and sometimes I think 'wicked' is natural.

[Anja]

I've been thinking overnight about this issue in a broader way. Thinking about locus of control. Everywhere I look on the board I see threads complaining about something/someone in one's environment.

We are all very much affected by the people around us and their acts. If one has not developed an internal locus of control it is easy to feel at loss, manipulated by things we have no control over.

And, it being an obvious fact that there is very little personal control a person has over their environment in general, it seems important to me for a person to understand that and to focus on themselves and their reactions in order to live in a sane and satisfying manner.

[Anja]

Illustration?

Everything's going to hell all around me, but I'm just fine, thank you. :cheese:

[proteanmix]

I've been thinking overnight about this issue in a broader way. Thinking about locus of control. Everywhere I look on the board I see threads complaining about something/someone in one's environment.

We are all very much affected by the people around us and their acts. If one has not developed an internal locus of control it is easy to feel at loss, manipulated by things we have no control over.

And, it being an obvious fact that there is very little personal control a person has over their environment in general, it seems important to me for a person to understand that and to focus on themselves and their reactions in order to live in a sane and satisfying manner.

Excellent point although I disagree on one small thing. I too noticed a while ago that most people on the forum seem to feel that they have little control over their environment. They feel like it acts (usually unwelcome encroaching) upon instead of them trying to act upon it. There's a thread right now about controlling people and situations. When I see things like this I try to think about them in as neutral way as possible. All of us need to exert some control outside of ourselves and towards our environment. If only for the basic need to have some comfortable space that we can have to ourselves. I don't believe we don't have control over our environment. Some people only feel comfortable exerting the control in smaller spheres whereas other feel comfortable exerting that over larger areas. It seems like to me that many folks here don't like to try and influence their environment but there are high levels of resentment towards their environment and the people that inhabit it. They don't want to push out or when they do it comes out in uncontrollable spews. And they resent people who do because they think they're going to gobble them up or something. Personally, I don't have a problem with people trying to influence me because I know that ultimately I'll choose my programming and I should choose wisely. The reason I think we choose our programming is exactly what you just said. We're all bombarded by messages from the outside world. There's no way we can keep it from seeping inside of us, influencing us unconsciously or subconsciously. So what I can do is figure out what information I want to give preferential treatment.

It's like when someone says someone is manipulative. Instinctually we react to someone being manipulative in a negative way. But I'm starting to look at manipulation in a strictly denotative way. I personally don't have a problem when I push out against my environment and conversely I don't have much of a problem when my environment pushes back out at me. I usually don't feel like it's going to consume me. When it pushes out against me I feel that in most situations I can push back out at it. There are times when it exerts itself on me that I don't feel like I can do anything about it. I guess then it boils down to how can I handle those times when I can't do anything, so basically coping mechanisms.

[Anja]

It makes sense to me, proteanmix, to see good living as a combination of the two - influencing what we can and not getting too hung up on what we can't.

This also requires some discernment about what is actually influencible.

Like most everything it is achieving a balance. And being able to accept "what is" over what we'd like. I think that gets a lot of folks in trouble with themselves and others.

Good point. No one wants to feel blown by the winds of fate.

[IDK123]

Well, this may be very immature but I try to avoid the news for the most part (TV). Not to say that I'm oblivious to the major news but being constantly bombarded by negative news makes me extremely uncomfortable In a way. avoidance is my coping mechanism.

[Little Linguist]

I had an epiphany. You, being NF, tell me how accurate it is. I don't have much to say of it other than:

It doesn't seem NFs are built for an environment in which news of the wicked can reach them from anywhere on the globe without hindrance.

Add: This is not criticism in any way, shape or form, only an attempt to better understand the NFs relation to the world.

Uhhhh????

Please elaborate?

[Peguy]

Well forgive me for putting a more philosophical spin to this discussion. As an NF, I find many faults with the whole concept of a "Global village". That assumes a level of intimacy with other people far away that simply cannot, nor should, exist.

This is not to say I'm against the concept of a universal concen for all humanity, far from it. Rather, I say that the version of that concept presented by the image of a "Global village" is built upon a flawed understanding of inter-human relations, and places such relations on an abstract level.

Inter-human relations on any geniune scale is built upon a concrete, rather than an abstract, basis. This means, among other things, placing limits upon who you show love and concern for. I cannot love everyman as if they were literally my brother(or sister). To do so means to undermine the value of such love, in more ways than one. First, the more people you love, the less love you're able to give to each person. So ironically, the more people you love, the more meaningless it becomes.

Second, in terms of the image of a family or "village", such forms of human solidairity are formed on a basis of exclusion of some sort: that is I have a more special relation with some people more than others. That is why the old saying goes that blood is thicker than water. This has been the basis for families and communities since time immemorial.

But as I said, this need not nor should not lead one to dismiss a geniune concern for all humanity; but one must set their priorities right. That means having primary concern for those whom one has more immediate contact and concern for. Too often people are so concerned about the poor starving kid in Africa they see on TV, they forget the poor starving children in their own neighborhoods.

Just my random incoherent thoughts on the matter.