Are you fooled into the totally erronious belief that most things that are happening in our world are bad? If so, let me enlighten you.
For every piece of bad news in our world today, there is greater good news. For every act of cruelty, there are more acts of kindness. The only problem is the media we listen to doesn’t spend much time focused on good news because bad news sells better. We love our bad news.
We like to watch movies that frighten us because they’re exciting. We like to watch bad guys, whether they are aliens, monsters or humans committing monstrous acts of cruelty. We like to watch movies that involve catastrophes of all sorts. We love apocalyptic shows.
All this very exciting bad stuff is fine as long as it’s an hour or two, but it does us no good emotionally or physically when it becomes constant. What we end up is a bad news set of beliefs.
If you find yourself thinking the U.S. or perhaps even the entire planet is falling apart, I’ve got some good news for you. Neither is true.
• In 1820, 94% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. As of 2012 it had dropped to 12.7%. Clearly there’s still work to be done, but we’re getting there.
• The share of the world’s population that survives on less than 2000 calories a day has dropped from51% in 1965 to 3% today (2005 statistic).
• Within the next year or two we will be able to grow new teeth from stem cells.
• We are currently able to bring extinct species back to life. (The Lazrus Project)
• We are now able to help the blind see and the paraplegic walk.
• Within just a few years many of us will own driverless cars.
• We have dish washers to do our dishes for us.
• We have washing machines to do our laundry for us.
• We have vacuum cleaners that work for us while we sit and drink our coffee, tea or beer.
• We have safer, more fuel stingy, more reliable and more comfortable cars than ever in the past.
• We have phones that can do more than super computers were capable of just a handful of years ago.
• The skilled hands of a surgeon can now operate us through a tiny incision thanks to robotic technology.
• Premature babies small enough to fit in your hand can now be saved.
• We have educational opportunities like no time in the past thanks to our computers and internet access.
• We’re using 3D printers now to print houses, cars, toys and all manner of things.
• Some homes now can supply all their electricity using the power of the sun.
• The use of clean energy is on the rise across the world.
• Staying in touch with the people we care about has never been easier.
• Our market shelves are lined with foods unavailable to us from all over the world thanks to improved processing and shipping. Many of these foods were completely unavailable to us in the not too distant past.
And it only keeps getting better.
Now let’s take a look at what we’re afraid of:
• Muggings
• Rape
• Terrorist attack
• Robbery
• Car theft
• Being murdered
• Identity theft
Do these things happen? Yes they do. However, being struck by lightening, being bonked on the head by a falling tree, being burned up in a house fire and drowning while swimming also happens. Yet, most of us don’t lock ourselves behind closed doors or focus much attention on these things because the media isn’t telling us these threats are just outside our door.
Actually, crime rates overall are dropping. Don’t believe me, check out this transcript of an interview done with Matthew Friedman, an economist at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.
Hey guys, I don’t have my head buried in the sand or anywhere else the sun doesn’t shine, there are definately problems we need to work on. That said, with every cultural or technological advancement, there have always been problems and fears.
We need to focus on solving our problems while also being darn glad for all the cool things we have that humanity never had in the good old days.
Mama Vic
P.S. I love you
