To feel utterly depressed and hopeless about the cruel world we live in

[Sosocold]

What is the world coming to? So many cases of child abuse and cruelty - there's so much of it around.
Plus, parents being killed whilst children asleep upstairs, asylum seekers stuck in freezing cold woods for weeks on end, no food or milk for babies. A humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan... I could go on. what World are we living in?! Surely every life is as important as another, but it seems not. Where's the help for these people, what can we do to help?!
Sorry for the depressing rant, I just feel utterly hopeless this morning.

I’m feeling completely broken by the news today. I can’t think about anything else, it’s just replaying again and again in my mind.

I’ve just made a donation to Action for Children. Maybe we can all play a tiny part in trying to stop this from happening again somehow. I don’t know what else to do.

I know the exact news you are talking about, was awake at 3am really upset about it. My DS was snuggled next to me in bed, warm and loved and that made me worse. It has made me so so angry and very upset.

I too can't talk to DH about it, I mentioned some of the vague details and he asked me to stop, which is totally fair. I know it will really affect him as it has me. I'm glad someone else wanted to talk about it though, so thanks to those in this thread.
I'm currently looking at home start volunteering, I already volunteer with kids for 2 different orgs, but want to do some more.

I am very glad I haven't seen this video.
Cruel and horrible things have always happened so I don't think things have gone worse.
In the UK we have actually made progress in some ways. We don't have burning at the stake or public executions which we did in the past.
It's horrific when we see such cruelty and it can certainly play on our minds .
It is balanced out by acts of heroism and caring though. The world and human nature are very complicated .
I think all we can do is be as positive an influence as we can in our own lives and try not to fall into despair.
There is cruelty and apathy in the world but there is a lot of goodness and beauty too.

Perhaps reduce media overload if it is affecting you too much.

@Theoldcuriosityshop

On the other hand think of the love between Kevin Sinfield and Rob Burrows and the tremendous things Kevin has done for motor neurone disease for his best mate. We all tend to focus on the awful tragedies in life but far far more people are inherently good. The stories in the news at the moment are heartbreaking, they make me weep but I live in hope that the world is mostly compassionate.

I was going to mention this as an example of the wonderful amazing side of humanity - to balance the shitty stuff.

I dunno - of course it's understandable to be down about news items, but crying for extended periods may say more about that person's state of mental health. Stay away from the news...

The cruelty, disassociation and horrific acts you are talking about are sadly part of the human condition. Becoming like that, is a tragedy in itself and usually began with the perpetrator being a victim of the same cruelty.

I always remind myself that the ability to disassociate has equal benefits to its downside. It's how we cope, and switch off the bad stuff, or desensitize ourselves to things that would otherwise destroy us. Without that, we couldn't function in the world.

The world is full of atrocities. Awful hateful things going on around us all the time. And we only know about some of it. I can't read the news these days. However I have heard about the case that we are talking about here. And I hope that there is a hell waiting for those two.

Shit happens. It's brutal.

But there's no need for the dramatics.

The world has always been cruel, but you shouldn't expose yourself to it and think it's your burden to shoulder it or reflect on it or emote over it. Just focus on your own little patch of it. Else you will just drown in sorrow all the time, and that helps nothing and nobody when you can be expending your energy more positively to those around you and yourself most of all.

I’m with you OP. Completely agree.

I too am struggling with having inadvertently seen this video. I have often avoided reading too much about child abuse cases since I started reading about Victoria Climbie when I was pregnant with ds1 and realised it was affecting me too much.

I work with people who have often experienced severe trauma, consider myself to be quite resilient emotionally and have heard some horrendous stories. However I was also awake in the middle of the night thinking about this one, I think its the visuals which make it harder to detach.

I know which case you're all talking about. I made the deliberate decision not to click on any of the articles as I know I couldn't cope with it.

Me and my husband also never talk about it.

However, I can pick up the gist of what happened because I see the headlines. I've already cried so much for that sweet little boy without knowing all the details.

I'm also pregnant at the moment and that makes me super emotional.

You can’t think like that. Surely you know humans have the capacity to be extremely cruel? Read your history - things used to be far worse pre welfare state. We just all know about everything now which isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Think of all the millions of people bumbling along being quite kind and decent. They don’t make the news though.

I scrolled down absentmindedly on the top few news articles in dm this morning and saw it (on purposely avoiding going too far down as the child abuse stories tend to be a bit further.

I saw the video from today and ever since just feel really depressed, wish I could jump in and rescue that poor soul.
I just don't feel like I can consume media anymore as these stories are so frequent now, including the little Welsh boy.. Its devastating to read when I have an 18m old son.

The good news app is really good for these feelings. There is a lot of positive developments happening. But we rarely get to hear them. Reading gives me boost when the ordinary news is too much.

The only thing that helps me when reading such an awful story is just really hoping that heaven is real.

The world is a terrible place and most people are terrible.

So no, YANBU.

There have always been awful people doing awful things.

I recently read 'Bloodlands' about the murderous regimes of Stalin and Hitler in central and eastern Europe. I don't recommend it.

I can try. I can speak out. I can write to my MP, but I don't think I can affect the determindly wicked.

But I don't believe we're totally powerless. We can make a difference in our little corners. If 7 billion people make a small difference and the other half a billion don't, the world will overall be better.

Today on a walk through town I found a lady bemused by the closed bus stop, asked if I could help and told her where the buses are now stopping. We told each other what a pain 'they' (whoever runs things) are and left each other smiling. I saw a dog struggling to carry an enormous stick and exchanged amused glances with a lady going the other way. Crossing the car park I saw a couple fighting their way through the lengthy payment instructions. A young man ran over, asked them if an hour would be enough for them and handed them his part-used ticket. In the supermarket the customer in front of me was being difficult. When it was my turn I sympathised with the cashier and we shared a bit of a joke. All small things but I believe the world was just a tiny bit better for some friendly human interaction.

If I get the opportunity to make a big difference I hope I will take it. Meanwhile, I shall just plod on, trying to just make the bit of the world I touch warmer rather than colder.

I haven't read this particular story but I empathise OP, sometimes I feel overwhelmed with sadness at what I read.

I am in my late 50s and I can say for certain that people are not more evil now than they used to be, the world is not a worse place. I can remember truly terrible stories ( Myra Hindley, Fred West.....). Sadly, there always have been bad people doing bad things. In fact, I think the world has become a bit gentler and safer over the years.

The fact that so many people have come on here to empathise shows that the majority of people are good and kind. It's really important to remember that and to carry on looking at what is good in the world. The feeling that the world is a terrible place will eventually harm you and those around you.

That story has broken me today too. I teach 6 year olds. I've been in tears thinking about it.

If the OP is about the video on the DM today re. the ongoing child abuse case then I agree, that made me feel completely sick. Honestly I could have opened the car door and thrown up. Just a completely traumatising case and I cannot believe the misery of that poor little child’s life. Completely heart breaking.

I couldn’t watch the video. Just the headline made me feel physically sick

@closedown

The world is a terrible place and most people are terrible.

So no, YANBU.

Most people are NOT terrible. Most people are good people.

This thread has, strangely cheered me up. I came on here as a lurker looking for somebody else to be talking about that horrific news story. Like so many of you it has made me cry three times since I saw the headline and the video still. I haven’t watched the video - but I have felt utterly depressed. However this thread has reminded me what my dh told me last night when I was in tears: most people (as in 99% of people) would never dream of behaving so cruelly. Ok so 99% of people won’t be great, some might not be particularly nice at all, but very very few would actually act so monstrously.
Most people are ok. A lot are well meaning and loving and do their best. That news story is so awful because we all feel so helpless and it is so sad. We are all people trying to do our best.

I think these things can really damage mental health. While I don’t believe in just avoiding the news, I think it’s important to step away from the 24 hour news cycle, which makes these things seem more common than they used to be, when actually they’re not. The online editions of the telegraph, daily mail and the guardian are all, in different ways, very bad for mental health. They have an ‘end of days’ feel to them as a pp said, probably because that gets more clicks because as humans we’re drawn to bad news.
So I’m going to try to cut down on my consumption. I’m also going to research charities I can donate to and as lots of pp have said, try and make my corner of the world a little better.
It is such a horrific story, I am sorry everyone is feeling so sad.