{"id":19845,"date":"2011-08-31T05:29:03","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T10:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=19845"},"modified":"2011-08-28T13:08:05","modified_gmt":"2011-08-28T18:08:05","slug":"good-news-about-the-world-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/31\/good-news-about-the-world-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Good News about the World 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cThe good news about bad news is that there is not nearly as much of it as you might think. The bad news about good news is that good news doesn\u2019t tend to sell.\u201d So John Ortberg, in the Foreword to Brad Wright\u2019s new, important book (Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of Our World<\/a><\/em><\/strong>), and every pastor and professor needs this book. The old communication model of Monroe and Eninger was that you create a need first, and the way to create a need is to put the bad news on the table. And that form of communication works \u2026 oh how it works. And many are doomsday sayers predicting the imminent demise of the world, and that the world is going downhill fast and we better scream and shout louder so everyone will hear us, wake up and reverse this ugly trend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Except that sometimes the news isn\u2019t as bad as you think.<\/p>\n

Do you think the world is getting better or worse? OK, let\u2019s get personal: Is your life better this year from last year? Is your economic life better or worse? Is your community\u2019s education better or worse? The environment? <\/strong><\/p>\n

But how does one prove such things? With facts. Brad Wright is a master of social facts, and if we paid more attention to facts and less attention to apocalyptic warnings buttoned up with some good anecdotes, we\u2019d know that the world is not getting worse, that there\u2019s all kinds of good news to go around, and it\u2019s seen in a number of topics. Brad discusses, for instance, this one:<\/p>\n

The majority of Americans think that most things in our country and around the world are on a downward spiral, but is such pessimism justified? Is the world really facing impending doom?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I like Brad because I learn so much from him and his studies. I tend listen to social sciences, but I have not studied it technically so knowing a good study from a not-so-good study isn\u2019t my forte.<\/p>\n

What we find in this book is that \u201clife is improving in many ways\u201d (16). Yikes, who\u2019d say that today? Brad, and Brad\u2019s got the facts to support it. But who wants to run around, and I swipe this from Ortberg, saying in unPaul unRevere-like fashion, \u201cStay in bed, the jolly ol\u2019 Brits aren\u2019t even coming?\u201d Read on.<\/p>\n

In 2009 Americans answered a set of questions about whether in the last 5 years the USA are getting better, the same, or worse. 83% said worse. A strong 5% thought it was getting better. 1 out of 16 Americans think the USA has gotten better over the last five years. Over the last forty years the majority of Americans have regularly thought the USA was getting worse. About 2 of 3 think that way. Fourteen different items have been studied (like moral standards, crime, public safety, honesty, etc) \u2026 and, yes, true to form, we Americans think things are getting worse on each of these topics.<\/p>\n

But the facts are that they aren\u2019t. 75% think more are on welfare now, but welfare has declined; 90% think crime among teens is on the uptick, but they\u2019re wrong. Typical Brad Wright: \u201cWhile the United States is the best in the world at some things (e.g., basketball, putting people in prison, and In-and-Out hamburgers), pessimism isn\u2019t one of them\u201d (19).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the weird thing: Americans are optimistic. We think positively about our own life but negatively about everyone else\u2019s. The sky is falling, but we\u2019ll miss it. Most Americans rate their own lives better than the country as a whole. Ergo: We are all above average. (HT: Garrison Keillor) Folks like Brad Wright, sociologists, call this the optimism gap. Most of us anticipate a better future, but the future is about the same as the present.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a good example: Since the 1970s, the GSS (General Social Survey) has asked Americans about the\/ir financial situation: 30-45% have said they have improved, but only 5-25% said the same about the national economy.\u00a0 This optimism gap applies to crime, environment, education, government officials, moral standards, poverty, hunger, homelessness and health care. [I imagine folks thinks blogs are now going downhill. I read that on one blog.]<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tale of two countries: the one \u201cI\u2019 live in and the one \u201cthey\u201d live in.<\/p>\n

He sketches the famous Thomas Malthus, and then Paul Ehrlich (Wright\u2019s got some gotchas here) who predicted there would be no England in 2000!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe good news about bad news is that there is not nearly as much of it as you might think. The bad news about good news is that good news doesn\u2019t tend to sell.\u201d So John Ortberg, in the Foreword to Brad Wright\u2019s new, important book (Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of Our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1732],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-issues"],"yoast_head":"\nGood News about the World 1<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""The good news about bad news is that there is not nearly as much of it as you might think. 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