Why The United States is Better Off Than You Think

Ask around. You’ll find out quickly that some people are not optimistic about the future of the United States. Political polarization, increasing crime, racism and fifteen dead Marines resulting from a disastrous exit strategy in Afghanistan. And, the rate of government spending is offensive-even to drunken sailors. These issues are dividing people faster than pineapple on pizza. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. We’re in a bad spot as a country.

Or are we?

See, it’s become sport to complain about the United States, particularly if you live in the United States. In that vacuum, you’ll hear that we are the most racist, homophobic, aristocratic and fascist country in the world. The majority of this drivel comes on the Social sites. Where the aggrieved can throw verbal Molotov cocktails from the comfort and anonymity of their La-Z-Boy recliner.

As Bill Maher recently preached, “maybe it\’s that everyone from the giant dorm room bitch session that is the internet should take a good look at what real oppression looks like.” These people have the worldview of three zip codes.

Real oppression looks like Kabul, Afghanistan, not Milwaukee, Wisconsin

A recent survey by Gallup challenges all this negative spew about the United States. See, Gallup has been carefully surveying adults since 2008. The number of adults who claim to be “thriving” in the United States is at an all-time high-and it’s rising.

The simple truth is that life is getting better for most people. But, you’d never know it. See, fear and emotion keeps you clicking, watching and voting. As a result of all this negativity, we tend to be overly pessimistic about our progress.

For example, what percentage of the world’s population doesn\’t have enough food to meet their daily needs? When asked, 79% of people answer wrongly. They overestimate it by two or three times. The answer is 11%.

When asked what share of the population in high-income countries (like Germany and the USA) are living in extreme poverty, 77% of people overestimate the answer. The answer is less than 1%.

Essentially, we’re hard wired to be pessimistic about life. It’s a a survival instinct. But this genetic pre-disposition makes us wildly inaccurate when assessing risk. We often exchange facts, data and logic for feelings. And, when feelings become the standard of truth we’ve completely abandoned any sense of reality.

There is also a predisposition called an “availability bias”. That is, we tend to believe whatever we see and hear more often. If you hear something enough times you’ll start to believe it. That constant negativity creates the perception that “things are bad”. They aren’t.

Our calculation of risk has more to do with perception than reality. For example, I’m afraid of snakes, because I perceive them as deadly. But, of the 7,000 – 8,000 bites in the US each year, about five people die. In contrast, about 63 people die each year from bee stings. Bees kill more Americans than snakes and sharks and airplanes and alligators. I don’t care. I still hate snakes.

If your worldview is formed entirely by fear, doom and gloom there is no space for gratitude or appreciation for how far we’ve come. There’s no room for curiosity, as Ted Lasso famously opined in this absolutely amazing scene.

Curiosity matters because the brain is most flexible when it is curious about something-and works it’s way into the answer.

With no gratitude or appreciation for progress, the world becomes binary. There is no middle ground; no incrementalism. Meaning that there is no room for the appreciation of change or improvement, by degrees. Binary. And that’s how you end up behind the ever-lovely Karen at the grocery store.

In Karen’s binary universe, admitting to a modicum of societal progress can unleash a shitstorm of epic proportions. See, a worldview that is positive is seen as dispositive of a myriad of issues. As if how far we’ve come on a tough issue such as systemic racism or gay rights somehow dismisses the opportunity for improvement. You run a very real risk of being labeled racist or homophobic. It suggests that you are satisfied with that progress. I’m not.

But, things can be “better” and “need improvement” at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive.

For example, one could argue that we do not have equal access to adequate healthcare for children. As evidence, about 4% of the world’s children won’t live to see their fifth birthday. That’s heartbreaking. But, in the 1800’s, 44% of all children died before their fifth birthday. So that’s both progress, and an opportunity for improvement.

One could argue that the wars and violence in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria over the last twenty years have caused immeasurable death and destruction. They have.

And, the unnecessary death of 15 brave American heroes in Afghanistan is reprehensible. It is.

But, in 1942 the rate of battle deaths was 201 per 100,000 people. Today that number is closer to 1 per 100,000. Progress and opportunity.

Hans Rosling was a professor of international health and a statistician. Rosling was a self-described “possibilist”. Instead of joining the chorus of fear & loathing, Rosling choose to resist the overdramatic worldview that has taken over the mainstream media.  

According to Rosling, “I see all this progress, and it fills me with conviction and hope that further progress is possible. It is having a worldview that is constructive and useful.” Need proof? Just take four minutes and watch this amazing video charting the incredible progress of 200 countries over 200 years.

Just 20 years ago 29 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty. Today that number is 9%. Again, progress and opportunity.

The number of police officer shootings appears to be on the rise in the United States. It’s all over the news. But, according to The Washington Post, the number of police shootings has remained completely flat since 2015. Surprising, huh?

See, Rosling calls out what we all know. That solely relying on the media or the fearmongering ass clowns in Washington to form your worldview is like using Google to diagnose breast Cancer. The diagnosis will be wrong and you’ll end up eating an entire bag of Oreos in your closet again.

Harvard professor and cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker agrees with Rosling. Pinker opines that by nearly every human measure of well-being, the world is getting better. War, violence and poverty are declining worldwide. Wealth, health, happiness and equality are all improving.

“As we care about more of humanity, we’re apt to mistake the harms around us for signs of how low the world has sunk rather than how high our standards have risen,” writes Pinker.

Pinker opines that the more we care about the plight of humankind, the more likely we are to overreact to to the signs. People assume that if something is bad today that it was better yesterday and it will be worse tomorrow. The slightest change in condition becomes a crisis, a catastrophe, an epidemic. The beginning of the end.

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So the next time you get into a conversation with someone espousing how bad things are, take a minute to challenge them. Or send them this article. Always challenge fear and emotion with facts, data and logic. Yes, there is opportunity for improvement in all things, but there is also amazing progress all around us.

If you liked this story, please forward it to someone you care about. Particularly if they spend too much time watching the 24 hour News (Fear) networks. Maybe they’ll just change their outlook on life and start to see the incredible progress that is all around us.

How about you? Do you think the world is worse off today? Leave me a comment below. I guarantee you will hear back from me.