Creating hysteria, or feeding off it?

Maybe hysteria isn't the best word, but its the best I could fathom.

As of late I and I'm sure many others have noticed an increase in disaster, alien etc shows.

Seeing a show for tonight on the History Channnel made me post this. Its "The Universe" and its topic is 10 Ways To Destroy The Earth.

Surviving Disaster, The Nostradamus Effect, The Colony, and I Know What I Saw just being a few. Last week there was also a show that covered the scenario of D.C. being nuked.

So my question is are the people producing/airing these shows picking on on mainstream ideas and running with them or, due to these shows are the ideas being presented?

A few people have commented on the increased amount of media surrounding these topics as of late so I thought I would open some discussion on it (unless one exists elsewhere.)

reply to post by ThaLoccster


I think that humans just have this fascination with destroying ourselves and trying to survive the in the wreckage.

With the world being in the state it is now, these types of scenarios don't really seem that far off anymore.
When things like impending doom become the entertainment of our day, one might ask why.
Perhaps we can feel something coming down the road. Who knows?
I do feel that as we have advanced as a species, we have also forgotten a lot of our roots.
We were more or less forged from brink of destruction.
If nothing else, such entertainment lends itself to a greater understanding on our part, of what has and still can happen.

What can anyone really say about any of it until we are living it?

There is a growing trend of the media to 'feed off' media-induced fear.

It makes for advertiser dollars I suppose.

But then, when taken as a whole, they are not serving the public very well, are they?

I recently heard a NPR broadcast about the media industry and it's woes 'adapting' to the fact that the internet let's people discuss what they say on a scale they apparently never imagined.

Well, it's sink or swim, they will have to adapt or perish.

I'm bring this thread back up because lately even channels I wouldn't normally associate this type of content with are showing it.

Right now on Planet Green there is a show about Nostradamus and his prophecies.

I really feel like that is out of place on the Planet Green channel.

Here is wiki's description of Planet Green...

Planet Green (formerly Discovery Home and Leisure and Discovery Home) is a television network on satellite TV and digital cable TV in the U.S. run by Discovery Communications. Originally launched on June 1, 1998 as the main competitor to HGTV, the channel offered programming ranging from do-it-yourself to cooking to interior design/landscaping to party planning. On June 4, 2008, the channel relaunched as Planet Green and is the first channel dedicated to the subject of ecologically friendly living

en.wikipedia.org...

Doesn't seem like a channel for Nostradamus prophecies....

ETA: As I reread my OP, I remembered the show about nuking DC was on tv 2 days ago, again.