Going to Heaven in a Hand-basket?

In his August 7 NYT column David Brooks nearly overwhelms us with good news. (registration required)

Here are some extracts

Violent crime over all is down by 55 percent since 1993 and violence by teenagers has dropped an astonishing 71 percent, according to the Department of Justice. … The number of drunken driving fatalities has declined by 38 percent since 1982, according to the Department of Transportation, even though the number of vehicle miles traveled is up 81 percent. … Teenage pregnancy has declined by 28 percent since its peak in 1990. Teenage births are down significantly and, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortions performed in the country has also been declining since the early 1990's. … Fewer children are living in poverty, even allowing for an uptick during the last recession. There's even evidence that divorce rates are declining, albeit at a much more gradual pace … Teenage suicide is down. Elementary school test scores are rising (a sign than more kids are living in homes conducive to learning). Teenagers are losing their virginity later in life and having fewer sex partners.

Read his column for some of the causes for all of this good news.

Brooks missed some other positive trends:

global warming may not be the problem we think it is

and

over the past 15 years warfare has declined and worldwide military spending has decreased.

We aren’t likely to read about this. It is bad news – for talk radio hosts, journalists, bloggers, preachers and politicians. We get better circulation, more hits, advertising income, power, and influence if we can argue that

• The world is going to hell in a hand-basket, and
• Our radio show, news writing, blogs, sermons or political platform can save it.

What will all these people do if they can't get their adrenaline highs by being outraged all the time?

Comments

[ELC]

I think it may be a fault of the blogosphere as currently operating to focus too much on the negative and, perhaps as significantly, to jump immediately on the latest bit of information, ignoring the positive and the long-term view.

[Herb Ely]

David, As you know, but our readers may not, I regard the whole question of http://www.herbely.com/2004/04/culture_wars_br.html>culture wars as a key factor in our politics today. I'm less concerned about video games and Hollywood than about the general ignorance of the media towards religion. For this reason http://www.getreligion.org/>GetReligion is one of my daily reads.
The hostility andhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/09/AR2005080901334.html?referrer=email> uncomprehension on the part of many of the democratic party'selite will continue to keep it from winning elections.

[David Ely]

This is exactly why all the people who keep preaching about how culture is getting worse and worse are misguided. Yes, young people use worse language. Yes, rap music sounds offensive to white people who don't understand it. Yes, women wear pants and work full time. But overall, society is getting nicer and cleaner. Sure, there are problems, but I'll take the evil influence of violent video games over slavery any day.