Where can my wife read heartwarming news stories on a regular basis?
January 19, 2012 10:29 PM Subscribe
Every other night or so, my wife pokes around the internet for heartwarming news stories. But she doesn't have any reliable source for this process (she's taken to reading the Daily Mail (!) in hopes of finding her glurge fix; but of course the stories are as likely to rend her heart as warm it). She needs a reliable place on the internet to go for her heartwarmth. Please hope her!
Now, reddit's /r/heartwarming would have been perfect. It did the trick for a couple days. But that subreddit is basically dead- there's no new content being generated for it. Where can my wife read new heartwarming stories of generosity/kindness/loyalty etc. on a regular basis? The internet is a big enough place that surely there's a regularly-updated blog or RSS feed of this sort of thing somewhere.
She's not looking for cute imagery- we've got a baby who supplies with all the cuteness we need. We're talking about true, recent stories of sentient beings being excellent to each other. We're talking about saving lives, comforting those in suffering, protecting the vulnerable, etc.
Now, reddit's /r/heartwarming would have been perfect. It did the trick for a couple days. But that subreddit is basically dead- there's no new content being generated for it. Where can my wife read new heartwarming stories of generosity/kindness/loyalty etc. on a regular basis? The internet is a big enough place that surely there's a regularly-updated blog or RSS feed of this sort of thing somewhere.
She's not looking for cute imagery- we've got a baby who supplies with all the cuteness we need. We're talking about true, recent stories of sentient beings being excellent to each other. We're talking about saving lives, comforting those in suffering, protecting the vulnerable, etc.
givesmehope.com and lovegivesmehope.com. Not news, technically, but it does have examples of human beings being excellent to each other.
posted by Tamanna at 10:38 PM on January 19, 2012
posted by Tamanna at 10:38 PM on January 19, 2012
The Good News Network
Small annual membership fee.
posted by vitabellosi at 11:38 PM on January 19, 2012
Small annual membership fee.
posted by vitabellosi at 11:38 PM on January 19, 2012
is about people Doing Good but it does have lots of positive stories. Also isn't there a Fark section for this?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:22 AM on January 20, 2012
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:22 AM on January 20, 2012
Sorry, supposed to be a link to good.is in there.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:23 AM on January 20, 2012
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:23 AM on January 20, 2012
Yeah, Fark's sappy topic is not the busiest, but there's a steady drip of stuff there.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 12:35 AM on January 20, 2012
posted by Monsieur Caution at 12:35 AM on January 20, 2012
RealitySandwich.com is often pretty uplifting!
I tend to distrust the new Huffington Post "good news" site because they have corporate ownership, and I suspect most of what will get published there will lead readers towards consumerism. Like, it'll be something positive wrapped in a layer of fear - just to insure you buy something. Basically, a print form of how advertising works.
Google "Edward Bernays" for an in-depth discussion on how this subtle form of "promotion of consumerism" might work.
He was the nephew of Sigmund Freud, BTW.
You're wife should be up on these techniques as she looks for truly positive input.
posted by jbenben at 1:44 AM on January 20, 2012
I tend to distrust the new Huffington Post "good news" site because they have corporate ownership, and I suspect most of what will get published there will lead readers towards consumerism. Like, it'll be something positive wrapped in a layer of fear - just to insure you buy something. Basically, a print form of how advertising works.
Google "Edward Bernays" for an in-depth discussion on how this subtle form of "promotion of consumerism" might work.
He was the nephew of Sigmund Freud, BTW.
You're wife should be up on these techniques as she looks for truly positive input.
posted by jbenben at 1:44 AM on January 20, 2012
Positive News has paper copies locally, and it's always nice.
posted by tchemgrrl at 5:42 AM on January 20, 2012
posted by tchemgrrl at 5:42 AM on January 20, 2012
Response by poster: Thanks for the answers so far! Some notes to up the difficulty a little bit:
She's got a Ph.D in a scientific field. These stories have to get past her bullshit detector. She wants to be sure the heartwarming story is true and not made up. I already know this disqualifies e.g. Guideposts in her eyes. It will probably count as a strike against GivesMeHope and other user-submitted sites. The ideal would be a site that aggregates heartwarming stories from reputable news wire services.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:10 AM on January 20, 2012
She's got a Ph.D in a scientific field. These stories have to get past her bullshit detector. She wants to be sure the heartwarming story is true and not made up. I already know this disqualifies e.g. Guideposts in her eyes. It will probably count as a strike against GivesMeHope and other user-submitted sites. The ideal would be a site that aggregates heartwarming stories from reputable news wire services.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:10 AM on January 20, 2012
Gimundo does exactly that -- scroll down to "Best of the Web."
posted by bluefly at 8:29 AM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by bluefly at 8:29 AM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you for suggesting Gimundo. It does aggregate from reputable sources and that is a point in its favor, but it seems to have a fair amount of awe-inspiring and look-at-this-cool-thing mixed in with its heartwarming.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:37 AM on January 20, 2012
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:37 AM on January 20, 2012
Depending on your political leanings, maybe ColorLines' Celebrate Love column would suit?
posted by sea change at 8:42 AM on January 20, 2012
posted by sea change at 8:42 AM on January 20, 2012
How about some heartwarming images from Cute Overload?
posted by Lynsey at 10:04 AM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Lynsey at 10:04 AM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Sorry for the babysitting, but I may not have been clear enough in my original post.
"Heartwarming" is an imperfect way of expressing what my wife is looking for. I will attempt to summarize what I believe she is looking for. I believe she is specifically interested in those things that increase one's faith in the possibilities of prosocial behavior- when a person or animal voluntarily sacrifices something to alleviate or prevent suffering in another person or animal.
That is the kind of "heartwarming" she's looking for. There are other things that people consider "heartwarming" (e.g. windfalls, extraordinary accomplishments, cuteness); it is probably inevitable that those other things are going to get mixed in with what she's really looking for.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:38 AM on January 20, 2012
"Heartwarming" is an imperfect way of expressing what my wife is looking for. I will attempt to summarize what I believe she is looking for. I believe she is specifically interested in those things that increase one's faith in the possibilities of prosocial behavior- when a person or animal voluntarily sacrifices something to alleviate or prevent suffering in another person or animal.
That is the kind of "heartwarming" she's looking for. There are other things that people consider "heartwarming" (e.g. windfalls, extraordinary accomplishments, cuteness); it is probably inevitable that those other things are going to get mixed in with what she's really looking for.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:38 AM on January 20, 2012
I like Wikinews, not glurge, but lots of non-sensational articles presented in a neutral way. Stuff such as "Kiribati just held presidential elections, everything went ok" or "India and China agree to develop friendlier relations". There's still disasters and such, but they're not presented louder than the mundane, day-to-day stuff. You get the sense that world is doing just fine.
posted by Tom-B at 12:05 PM on January 20, 2012
posted by Tom-B at 12:05 PM on January 20, 2012
What about TED Talks? She could order the videos by ratings of "courageous" or "inspiring".
posted by purlgurly at 1:48 PM on January 20, 2012
posted by purlgurly at 1:48 PM on January 20, 2012
I know just what you mean, and I think I have stumbled across such a thing, but -- . I found these 3 sites in my bookmarks. They're sort of close to what you want -- more along the lines of reporting successful social justice projects, rather than individual actions:
Good.is
YES! magazine
Ashoka
posted by Corvid at 2:35 PM on January 20, 2012
Good.is
YES! magazine
Ashoka
posted by Corvid at 2:35 PM on January 20, 2012
Best answer: I just now came across The Christian Science Monitor's "People Making a Difference" page, which features, at the moment, such stories as:
Julie Leven brings classical music to homeless shelters
Henry Red Cloud: a solar warrior for native America
'Dr. Liza' heads a free clinic that helps Moscow's homeless and hopeless
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:54 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
Julie Leven brings classical music to homeless shelters
Henry Red Cloud: a solar warrior for native America
'Dr. Liza' heads a free clinic that helps Moscow's homeless and hopeless
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:54 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Lots of heartwarming stories on the Toronto Star's Acts of Kindness page.
posted by remixnine at 10:04 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by remixnine at 10:04 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
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posted by btfreek at 10:34 PM on January 19, 2012