The world is much better than some people think.
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This comment was by David English in reference to the post – The Real Reason Donald Trump Will Be Our Next President
Who could have foreseen, two generations ago when the story of progress was strong, that the twenty-first century would be a time of school massacres, of rampant obesity, of growing indebtedness, of pervasive insecurity, of intensifying concentration of wealth, of unabated world hunger, and of environmental degradation that threatens civilization?
That quote is the problem because people believe it. World hunger is the lowest it’s ever been, as are wars and their casualties.
The risk of being the victim of violence is way down, not up. Obesity is the problem instead of famine. Considering the world, income disparity is likely lower as well, with middle-income wealth going overseas to raise people out of near-total poverty.
We, as humans, are probably safer now that we have ever been. The environment, setting climate change aside, is much cleaner that it was in the developed world, though developing areas seem to be going through the same polluting cycle. Climate change, the overriding worry of today’s people, is far less scary and immediate than global thermonuclear war, the overriding worry of the previous generation. Civilization is not actually under any significant threat. In actuality, while there are serious problems that need solving, we’re doing pretty good. Great, actually, by any historical standard.
Yet, people buy the fear, they live it, and then they grasp at people that offer solutions. The solutions are to problems that don’t exist or are at least far less scary than the solutions being offered. The problem is that too many people make a living peddling fear.
As for President Trump … that one just boggles the mind. A man campaigns on a platform of not needing to take contributions from the business world because he is a businessman. He’s basically saying that instead of buying a politician, he’ll just be the politician. He’s cutting out the middleman. And yet, people buy it. They don’t want corrupt politicians that are bought and paid for by rich people, so they elect a rich person instead?
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