Rick's Reflections, January 15, 2018
Today, we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King. His
leadership changed America.
On a somewhat related topic, this weeks' Time Magazine (January
15, 2018) focused on something we have not heard much of for a couple years,
optimism. Through a series of articles by a long list of famous and not-so-famous
authors, this week's issue points out what's right with America and the world.
A prevailing theme from POTUS 45 has been to "Make America
Great Again". Just what does that mean? At what point in time was America
great? Is it not great now?I believe that America is great and will even be
better in the future.
I grew up in an all-white, mostly protestant, community. My
daily interactions were NOT with Native Americans, African Americans,
Catholics, Jews or Muslims. Until college, and even there, my interactions with
other cultures/religions was extremely limited. Was that great? As a child, I
had mumps, measles, and chicken pox. A cousin had polio. Someone dying of a
heart attack was more frequent than now. A cancer diagnosis was often a death
sentence. Is that great: Cars did not have seat belts or air bags, and homes
did not have smoke and CO2, detectors. Is that great? Many occupations for
women were not possible. Abuse of women and children was often not reported. My grandfather was an immigrant and built a
successful life for his family. Wasn't
that great?
In the Time Magazine collection of articles, a couple stood
out for me. Steven Pinker coins the
term Irrational
Pessimism. What does that mean? It means that we, along with our
news sources, focus on excitement, disasters and tragedies. Our feelings about
risk are driven not by facts but by images and stories. For example, tornadoes
kill dozens while asthma kills thousands. Which makes the better story? A
common phrase among news professionals is, "If it bleeds, it leads."
Irrational
Pessimism helps us to mentally create a list to remind us of things
that can go wrong, rather than what goes right. As you watch the evening news,
take stock of how many stories deal with positive things and how many are about
bad things. Somewhere, I still have a copy of the 70's book titled "I'm
OK, You're OK". One chapter was titled "Ain't it Awful!" and
dealt with the fact that we love to tell about negative things such as
accidents, illness, weather emergencies and other things that speed up our
heart rate, in other words, are exciting.
Irrational
Pessimism gets us to ignore the data. Pinker states that a cure for
this is for us to look at the facts. We're at a point in history where people
live longer, are more literate, have more money and are less impacted by
international conflict. Is that a bad thing?
A second article by Bill
Gates entitled "The Good News",
starts out by saying, "Reading the news today does not exactly leave you
feeling optimistic. Hurricanes…, shootings…, nuclear arms, and civil wars. Even
most of us are not directly affected, we may feel like the world is falling
apart. These events, as awful as they are, have happened in the context of a
bigger, positive trend. On the whole, the world is getting better."
Gates goes on to emphasize that these positive trends are
backed by data, the real news, not the sensationalized news that is blown at us
twenty-four hours a day. Don’t' knock the news sources for giving us what we
ask for. Just make sure that what you read, see and hear is verified for
accuracy. If not by the reporter, by you.
Then, why do some feel like the world is in decline? Gates
says, bad news arrives in a dramatic form while good news comes in small steps,
I.e., incrementally. Humans are hard-wired for self-protection, hence, we are
conditioned react to what we perceive may cause us harm, even though the facts
say we are not in danger.
So, look at the good things in your life. Treasure the fact
that you are most likely living better than your parents and grandparents ever
dreamed. You're safer, healthier and will likely live longer. This weeks' Time
Magazine is filled with good news…If you have a chance, find a copy at a news
stand or online and focus on good news for a change. America is already great.
Rick Holman.
Steven Pinker article: http://time.com/5087384/harvard-professor-steven-pinker-on-why-we-refuse-to-see-the-bright-side/
No comments:
Post a Comment