Posted by
Andrews on Friday, December 11, 2009 3:16:43 PM
My wife was telling me today about an absurd article she read about the "dangers" of EMFs (electromagnetic fields). You know the worries, cell phones give us cancer, our wiring is killing us, and so on. The fact that lifespans have not dropped since the 1970s or 1980s seems a pretty strong refutation, but no one listens. The same way that the near doubling of our lifespan in the past century makes me think worries about industrial pollution are overblown.
While talking to my wife, I mentioned the one reason we always hear from the scare-mongers, no matter how poorly justified nor obviously insane. You see "the sky is falling" is news. even if it is poorly defended, a claim that things will go wrong is enough to get some news coverage. On the other hand "everything is ok" or "things will only get better" just isn't news. (Notice, even when trying to defend Obama, the press just can't lead with "everything's ok", it is just too dull.) So we just never hear when science proves something safe, even when they refute the theories behind past overblown worries. There just aren't any ratings, or advertising dollars, in telling everyone not to worry.
Fortunately, I don't have to worry about advertising, or ratings. I obviously don't even worry about readers, or I wouldn't take on some fo the subject I have. So, since I don't care, let me say "everything is pretty good."
And I am not just talking about pollution and other silly worries. Even in politics, things could be a lot worse. Yes, Obama is doing some scary stuff, or trying to, but it looks like his support is eroding. Common sense and reelection fears seem to be driving a lot of congress, so even those worries are fading a bit. Yes, the currency is shaky, and the basis upon which we built our money is unsteady, but it appears congress is backing away from more super-inflation, and there is even some public discussion of the gold standard, which hasn't really happened since the early 1980s. So, despite a lot of negatives, things aren't getting much worse, and there is even some hope for improvement.
Not that I want my readers to become Pollyannas, bury their heads in the sand and ignore real worries. All I want everyone to recognize is that we still have it pretty good. The US still has a huge advantage thanks to our history of freedom, and the common sense of our fellow citizens often protects us from the bad ideas that strike many nations. We can still go wrong, and we have many things to fix, but life could be much worse. I would still not choose another nation over the US, even with all our current ills.
Actually, this has inspired me. I may take some time when I return to my regular writing schedule and post some "Anti Chicken Little" posts, showing how fears, environmental, medical, economic and political, have either been refuted, have not panned out, or have otherwise shown themselves to be false. From great panics of the past, to recurring worries, to purely modern worries, to even such nutty things as the truthers and the blowing of the levees, it may be fun to show how little substance many worries of the past and present have had.
Who knows, maybe it will help to reduce the number of such unjustified worries in the future.