We are getting people out of poverty. "[T]he world has lately been making extraordinary progress in lifting people out of extreme poverty. Between 1990 and 2010, their number fell by half as a share of the total population in developing countries, from 43% to 21%—
a reduction of almost 1 billion people." (
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We live longer and better, and we will keep getting better at it. "
Global life expectancy [is] reaching new heights ... By the year 2025, 26 countries will have a life expectancy at birth of above 80 years. It will be highest in Iceland, Italy, Japan and Sweden (82 years) followed by Australia, Canada, France, Greece, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain and Switzerland (81 years). It will be 80 years in Austria, Belgium, Barbados, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other examples for 2025 include China (75 years) the Russian Federation (72 years) and India (71 years). ...
The most important pattern of progress now emerging in general is an unmistakable trend towards healthier, longer life." (
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Crime rates in Western countries are way down. Using the U.S. as our example because it's the one everyone thinks of for this: "In the past 20 years, for instance,
the murder rate in the United States has dropped by almost half, from 9.8 per 100,000 people in 1991 to 5.0 in 2009. Meanwhile, robberies were down 10 percent in 2010 from the year before and 8 percent in 2009. ... The declines are not just a blip, say criminologists. Rather, they are the result of a host of changes that have fundamentally reversed the high-crime trends of the 1980s. And these changes have taken hold to such a degree that the drop in crime continued despite the recent recession." (
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Healthcare access is higher than ever. "More people than ever before now have access to at least minimum health care, to safe water supplies and sanitation facilities. Most of the world's children are now immunized against the six major diseases of childhood. The late 20th century [saw] overall socioeconomic progress accompanied by steady and sometimes dramatic advances in the control and prevention of diseases, the development of vaccines and medicines, and countless medical and scientific innovations." (
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We are saving vulnerable children. "Spectacular progress in reducing deaths among children under 5 in the last few decades is projected to continue. There were 21 million such deaths in 1955, about 10 million in 1997, and that figure should decline to 5 million by 2025." (
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The premature death rate in general is plummeting. "Gaps between the richest and poorest countries remain huge, but are gradually closing, at least in terms of premature deaths. For example, in 1995, 76% of people who died in WHO's African region were under 50. By 2025, the proportion will fall to 57%. In the European region, only 15% of those who died in 1995 were under 50, and that proportion will fall to just 7% in 2025. The gap between African and European populations in their respective proportion of premature deaths will thus narrow from 61% to 50%." (
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We are not having more earthquakes -- in fact, we're dealing with them better than ever. Straight from the USGS: "We continue to be asked by many people throughout the world if earthquakes are on the increase. Although it may
seem that we are having more earthquakes, earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have remained fairly constant. A partial explanation [for why people think there are more] may lie in the fact that in the last twenty years, we have definitely had an increase in the number of earthquakes we have been able to
locate each year. This is because of the tremendous increase in the number of seismograph stations in the world and the many improvements in global communications. In 1931, there were about 350 stations operating in the world; today, there are more than 8,000 stations and the data now comes in rapidly from these stations by electronic mail, internet and satellite. This increase in the number of stations and the more timely receipt of data has allowed us and other seismological centers to locate earthquakes more rapidly and to locate many small earthquakes which were undetected in earlier years. The NEIC now locates about 20,000 earthquakes each year or approximately 50 per day. Also, because of the improvements in communications and the increased interest in the environment and natural disasters, the public now learns about more earthquakes." In other words,
there aren't more earthquakes -- we just detect and hear about more. (
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We're eliminating infectious diseases. "For developing countries, the good news is that by 2025, infectious diseases such as poliomyelitis, leprosy, guineaworm disease, filariasis and hepatitis B, which together afflict and disable hundreds of millions of people, will have been eliminated or reduced to very low prevalence levels."
When everyone at the Hall is panicking about Ebola, remind them of the incredible fact that it looks like we may very well have just found the cure for it. (
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Older first-world people are avoiding and better treating major illnesses. "In the industrialized world, where population aging is a major concern, declines in disability from heart disease and some cancers among older people are already evident in a number of countries, largely due to prevention programs, education and improved treatment."
When everyone at the Hall is complaining about how everyone is so ill, focus on all the illnesses we're not dealing with that were killing millions just a generation or two ago. (
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The terrorists aren't out to get you. "
Has escalating terrorism succeeded the conventional conflicts of the past? No. The al-Qaida attacks on the U.S. on 9/11 were exceptional in the number of their victims. The results obtained by the Boston Marathon terrorists, who killed only three individuals while maiming scores of others, are more typical. According to the RAND Database of Worldwide Terrorism Incidents, in the seven years following 2001 the average number of deaths from international terrorism was 582 [note from Palimpsest: out of *seven billion*]. What is more, many suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks are carried out by locals and take place as part of intra-state wars or in countries or regions occupied by foreign forces like Chechnya, Northern Ireland, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan. While some of them are carried out by transnational terrorists, many of these incidents do not necessarily fit the category of 'international terrorism.'" (
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Science, y'all. "Technological advances in general, and more progress in medical research, treatment, care and rehabilitation should further enhance quality of life, especially for older people."
You don't need the hope of Paradise to have comfort. You can live comfortably and enjoy life now. (
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Fewer people have severe disabilities. "They are not only living longer; research shows that in some countries they are also living more healthily, with their rates of disability going down at the same time as their life expectancy goes up." (
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----
So why do you think everything is getting worse?
It's all in what you choose to put in your mind. If you watch nothing but the news (which always shows the worst stuff) and crime shows (where everyone's always getting raped or stabbed), or the only part of the newspaper you read is the crime blotter, or you spend your days on flailing political drama sites like Drudge and DailyKos,
or you go to the Kingdom Hall and read their materials, your mind is going to absorb that and make it the norm to you. Our minds naturally fixate on the worst and blow it up into something way bigger than it is.
The world is not perfect. We have problems to tackle. But it's not ending, either. Relax.
Just because the ********** tells you something, that doesn't mean you have to believe it.
I didn't write that post. A moderator from a recovery board I frequent did. She did such a good job I left it as is. Feel free to add your own evidence.
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