Is the world getting worse?

[Destructus86]

I'm one of those people that feels the world is NOT getting worse. That things balance out...for every horrible thing that happens a good thing happens as well. For instance, a large earthquake destroys a town and kills a bunch of people...BUT thanks to technology we can bring help to the survivors much faster saving more than we could before.

Or a disease (not something like ebola, but still bad) hits a town and lots of people die...BUT thanks to new medicines we can save people that would not normally have been saved.

What i'm saying is...I believe it balances out. For every rotten, horrible person there is another person out there doing good and helping others.

But sometimes...reading the news...even just glancing at it I start to get a little bummed out and wonder "maybe the world really is a terrible, awful place that's falling apart...."

I just don't buy that. I just have to remind myself that's what the news thrives on...the bad. They don't care about the good things happening because that doesn't make money.

What about you guys? Do you think the world is going all to hell?

 

[Schlosser85]

I think some things are getting better....civil rights and equality, at least in the Western World. I certainly don't think we should go back to "the good old days" when only rich white Christian heterosexual men had any rights to speak of.

There are advancements being made in fighting HIV and AIDS, even in poorer areas.

But at the same time, I think we're slowly destroying the world via global warming and climate change, and species going extinct or on the brink of extinction. The polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate. The thought of animals like rhinos and tigers going extinct in my lifetime makes me depressed.

I guess it's a little of both. But I think we're slowly killing the planet.

 

[Victarion]

I think some of it is that with the internet and the twenty-four hour news cycle, you hear about stuff that you might not would've heard about years ago. Also, what Schlosser said.

 

[JAK®]

No, we officially live in the most peaceful period in recorded history. There are very few wars nowadays compared to even a century ago.

However, we live in a world where we are surrounded by sensationalist media and they know that bad news and controversy gets the most attention.

Also, human psychology has been proven to remember negative experiences more than positive ones, as a survival instinct.

The bad news is that everything will feel horrible no matter what time you live in.

 

[Teelie]

Only our perception is, thanks to the mass media and 24 hour news cycle with an endless appetite to feed us news, usually of the negative and detrimental.

We're actually at the lowest level of extreme poverty in the planet's history, we're more peaceful than ever, the overall world is in a better place but the news and the feeling is we're worse off than before. Politics is definitely in a bad place and financially we're always hearing how the next depression/recession/big bad is just around the corner but we are still waiting for that and it hasn't happened and in fact things are looking up otherwise.

 

[Destructus86]

Good points on sensationalism. I've read a number of articles that cited convincing science surrounding negative sensationalism and the effects it has on our brains. It's not good...new stations are spreading a psychological disease.

 

[Pink Ranger]

The fact that we've had about a couple of generations of men now who haven't been sent en masse to die in a major global war is good progress.

 

[Flint Marko]

No, we officially live in the most peaceful period in recorded history. There are very few wars nowadays compared to even a century ago.

However, we live in a world where we are surrounded by sensationalist media and they know that bad news and controversy gets the most attention.

Also, human psychology has been proven to remember negative experiences more than positive ones, as a survival instinct.

The bad news is that everything will feel horrible no matter what time you live in.

This. I think we live in a pretty decent time, but none of us will really feel that way thanks to news commentators and media pundits screaming about ebola and ISIS and the economy and gun violence every three seconds.
Yeah there are a lot of messed up things happening, but there's nothing new under the sun.

 

[Steyin]

I think so, or at least human beings are.

 

[Destructus86]

I am officially boycotting all major news networks.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

I blame Ron Burgundy for the state of the media these days.

 

[InJustice]

I find that people who say "this world has gone to hell!" have a practiced apathy. Let's not forget that we are predecessors to the next generation, and we are responsible for not only growing the new generation, but also leaving them with our world. So basically, what I'm trying to say is that people who say "this world has gone to hell!" are unaware that they are part of the problem.

 

[Howlett]

The news and the 24 hour news cycle only shows you the terrible side of people, because...RATINGS = $$$.


Which is ridiculous and sad, but people like to be scared and live in fear apparently.

 

[Howlett]

I find that people who say "this world has gone to hell!" have a practiced apathy. Let's not forget that we are predecessors to the next generation, and we are responsible for not only growing the new generation, but also leaving them with our world. So basically, what I'm trying to say is that people who say "this world has gone to hell!" are unaware that they are part of the problem.

Apparently it doesn't matter anyway.

We are all DOOOOOOMED, DOOOOMED I SAY!

Humans will be extinct in 100 years says eminent scientist


http://phys.org/news196489543.html

 

[Marvolo]

^That guy should lay off the coffee and maybe take a vacation. Actually considering his age he should just go somewhere quiet and retire.

 

[Howlett]

^That guy should lay off the coffee and maybe take a vacation. Actually considering his age he should just go somewhere quiet and retire.

He's just mad because he'll be dead in 10 years.

 

[squeekness]

I think it's getting worse because -- it seems to me -- that there is less concern now for the sanctity of life and concern for other people. Years ago we just committed suicide, now its "how many other people can I take with me?" The bullying, websites where you can post revenge photos, ISIS, governments that kill their own people for asking questions, the destruction of our planet and the creatures besides us that live on it. I can only hope I die before we all implode.

 

[Piper Maru]

I can't wait for a massive asteroid to impact the planet. It's long overdue anyways.

 

[SuperFerret]

The world is getting better, not worse. Don't fall into the trap of thinking the opposite because you're hearing more about minor ********.

 

[squeekness]

The world is getting better, not worse. Don't fall into the trap of thinking the opposite because you're hearing more about minor ********.

I don't think global warming caused by us is minor. Selling women into slavery (forced marriage), kids killing kids, slaughtering endangered species for better sex. These are not minor to me. These make me cry.

 

[Piper Maru]

What is the phrase, don't look a one trick dead gift pony in the mouth or something?

 

[squeekness]

Dead ponies make me cry too.

 

[Howlett]

I don't think global warming caused by us is minor. Selling women into slavery (forced marriage), kids killing kids, slaughtering endangered species for better sex. These are not minor to me. These make me cry.

There is less of that happening now.

If you look back 500 years, the world was a far more brutal place.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Can I go out on a limb and say the world may be getting worse for the reasons you guys say it's getting better? I mean... most will be pretty quick to dismiss the following statements, but try to keep your mind open for the next couple minutes.

Sure we save more people from disease and find new ways to prolong human life every day... Sure humanity grows more populous with every passing year. It is truly amazing that less people with HIV and cancer must suffer due to advances in science and medicine. Human beings are made safer, happier and healthier and the world is less of a threat to mankind as time ticks on.

But tell me, why is that a good thing? We celebrate and protect human life as if its in short supply. When really all we are doing is trading the other organic matter on the planet for the life most suitable for sustaining our own human bodies. Species of plants and animals become endangered or extinct more and more rapidly because they are of little or no use to us as a species.

So we'll hit 8 billion in a few years, shortly after that 9 billion, then 10. Then what? If you've ever complained about traffic, or waiting in line, or pollution, or inflation... or sat and pined over world hunger and poverty... and yet your life goal is to get married and have 4 kids and 12 grand kids (without considering adoption), then you are a hypocrite.


Personally I do believe the world is getting worse and the number one reason is over-population. In this belief, I am most definitely outnumbered.

 

[terry78]

You think people are *******s now? Believe me, every single time period before this was umpteen-fold worse. Except the 80s, that was awesome.