THERE IS HOPE – The Moderate Voice

After a year like 2020 it is very easy to think that the world is going to hell in a hand basket. The pandemic, the very contentious presidential election, various events provoking protests and riots, natural disasters, Brexit and other troubling events from out in the world, and the media coverage of all these events can easily lead to the conclusion that every thing in the world is getting worse. This conclusion is absolutely wrong.

A historical analysis covering anywhere from the last several decades to the last 220 years reveals the following worldwide positive trends and declining negative trends: increased female rights, literacy, and use of contraceptives; increased life expectancy; increased percentage of children vaccinated; increased agricultural harvests; increased access to safe drinking water and electricity; reduced birth rate; reduced child mortality and child labor; reduced extreme poverty and hunger; reduced deaths from disasters and wars; reduced ozone depletion and oil spills. This is just a sampling of the many positive trends happening in the world right now.

Of course not everything is positive. After peaking in 2008, global democracy has consistently declined over the last 12 years. Carbon dioxide emissions have risen dramatically in the last 75 years. Despite the War on Terrorism, global terrorist incidents have increased since 2001. However, knowing exactly what is actually getting worse is a lot different than thinking that everything is getting worse. Thinking that everything is getting worse leads to both personal and social dysfunctionalities. Depression, related learned helplessness and hopelessness, or blatant hedonism are common reactions at the personal level.

At a social level the response is polarized. Many people seem to have passively given up, thinking that things will continue to get worse regardless of what they do or don’t do. Others have become radicalized, at either end of the political spectrum. Only if the ‘system’ is overthrown and radically transformed can the world move in a positive direction. Both responses are based on the erroneous perception that everything is getting worse. The reality is this: there is slow, positive evolutionary (not revolutionary) change occurring all over this planet, that has been going on for a long time.

People absolutely need to know that most global trends are positive. So the question is this: How can this calamitous misperception of the world be corrected? Positive events occur much more frequently than negative events, but only local journalists report positive news on a regular basis. Reporting at the national and international levels is almost all negative. The excuse at these levels is that they are giving people what they want. Sadly, they are correct. Human beings do focus more on the negative than the positive. However, giving people what they want is not the same as giving them what they need.

Here is a suggestion for the national and international media. With every negative news item, include a real positive antidote. Here is an example.

Back in December when Covid vaccinations first started in the United States, the national media made a very big deal out of the one or two reports of adverse reactions to the vaccine. Nowhere in these stories was there any mention of the fact that over 200, 000 Americans had been vaccinated with no adverse reactions at all. The following should have been done: Somewhere in the report mention the negative/positive ratio, and the incredibly small probability of an adverse reaction. The reporting of negative/positive ratios could be included in every negative news report.

This small change could have a big payoff. To stick with the example, knowing the tiny probability of having an adverse reaction to the vaccine would decrease fear and increase vaccination rates. Humans have made incredible progress in the last 220 years; things generally are getting better, not worse!