Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Why So Negative?

We live in a culture that often rewards outrage over understanding, yet real strength is found in responding with grace and integrity.

Blogs National

By André van Heerden, Communications Director

I was recently watching an episode of the sitcom Parks and Recreation. In it, the main character, Leslie Knope, is running to be elected as a council woman for the town.

Her opponent begins to run negative political ads against her, and her advisors tell her that she needs to do the same back to him. He would be a very easy target. But she’s always promised herself that if she ran for public office, she wouldn’t run such attack ads.

Everyone that I’ve ever heard comment on political advertising says the same thing: they don’t like attack ads. So why do campaigns run them? Because they work.

Political activist and consultant Roger Stone, author of Stone’s Rules: How to Win at Politics, Business, and Style, wrote, “The same people who tell you they hate negative political TV commercials will also be able to tell you exactly what was in them.”

People are naturally interested in conflict and negative information about others. Successful TV series, movies, and books are all full of conflict and flawed characters because that’s what interests people.

There’s a saying in journalism that if it bleeds, it leads. Plus, people tend to believe and remember more negative things than positive. This is known as the negativity bias.

Unfortunately, these common human inclinations mean that our news is full of dark and disturbing stories, as well as a lot of our entertainment, and especially political campaigns.

But in the long run, does using attack ads—whether in political campaigns, competition in the marketplace, or in personal relationships—get you ahead? It may win an election or gain a few sales or win an argument, but does it do anything to actually build you up or get others to believe and trust in you?

CLAC frequently experiences attacks from other unions and their political allies. We get accused of not being a real union or being a “company union” or being undemocratic or even of being a bigoted, religious cult.

All of these are lies and easily disproved, but unfortunately they play to people’s negativity bias. For the short term, other unions may win a raid with these tactics. But afterward, they’ll have to represent the workers by doing more than just attacking CLAC.

When I’m coaching soccer and a game is getting rough, I encourage my players to focus on their own game, rather than what the other team or ref are doing. If the other team is swearing or fouling, I tell my team to ignore it. If the ref is missing calls, I tell my team to carry on.

Focusing on these negative aspects of the game won’t improve how my players play. It won’t help them to grow or learn, and it will likely hurt their enjoyment of the sport. The result of the game isn’t as important as developing better players and better people.

I’m often reminded too that those who are lying, or those who are attacking you, feel threatened. They wouldn’t be so focused on you if they weren’t worried about you.

British statesman and diplomat Lord Chesterfield wrote, “People hate those who make them feel their own inferiority.”

And author and speaker Sean Covey noted, “Isn’t it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up?”

CLAC strives to be positive, purposeful, and courageous in every situation—even when facing conflict. For this reason, we don’t spend our time, or budget, attacking other unions. We focus on serving our members.

The character of Leslie Knope has a lot of entertaining quirks and flaws, but something that defines her is her tireless and devoted desire to help and serve others. No wonder she didn’t want to do attack ads.

Why So Negative?

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