The article cites the fact that the global number of people in extreme poverty has been halved as one of its reasons for this naming of a "golden age." However, this information didn't come to light until this year, despite having become true in 2008. In addition, it talks about how the world's economies have been growing, yet fossil fuel consumption has actually decreased. It also cites advances in technology and medicine, longer lifespan, and a lower deathcount as a result of war. Even despite violence in the Middle East and in other parts of the world, this article paints the world as a more peaceful place than in past decades.
Now, all that doesn't necessarily make it any less worrying when a downturn in the economy sends people onto the streets or when you've just heard of mass violence, but it's a new and refreshingly optimistic look at the world. Despite all of the unhappiness and harm we may witness, there's still some kind of improvement going on--so maybe we don't need to panic after all.
What do you guys think? Do you agree that the world is improving/has improved? Or is it really heading downhill like the media tends to portray it?
10 comments:
I think the superlative "ever" is too big of an overstatement. It is probably more accurate to say that 2012 has been the best year so far. It is true that technological and medical advancements has improved people's health and lengthened life spans, but there is still work to be done in the less developed countries of the world that don't have the resources we do.
On the subject of the world ending, I think that the different possibilities of apocalypses that people are obsessed with (nuclear war, rapture, attacked by zombies, what have you)are essentially fiction and nothing more. While a post-apocalyptic world is fun to explore in a movie, I just don't find it plausible in reality. If we are improving as a world like the article claims, then we should be able to prevent any kind of world destruction or crisis from happening.
I most defiantly think the world is improving in some matters. For example, the amount of technology that has been invented during 2012 and the previous years is growing at an exponential rate. Although there is still much work to do to achieve the "ideal world", I believe we are heading in the right direction. That put aside, I can see why some people would think the world is heading downhill. With global warming on the rise and war continuing, seeing the world as failing is absolutely valid. Overall, although there are a lot of negatives in the world, I feel that the positives outdo it so the world is improving (maybe not at the fastest rate, but still)
As Maribelle stated, the claim that 2012 has been the BEST year EVER is too big of an exaggeration. However, I do appreciate this article's attempt to focus on the positive rather than all that has gone wrong in the world in the past year. When we focus too much on the negative, as the media tends to do, we take for granted all of the ways in which we have advanced and all of the privileges that we have experienced. With occurrences such as the recent shootings destroying faith in humanity, it is nice to be reminded that the world is not always such a horrible, tough place in which to live.
I thought the article's argument was interesting. But like anything, a measure of the status quo largely depends on the metric being used. Yes, by the cited numbers, the world has arguably become a better place. But the key word in that statement is "arguably." While certain aspects of the world have improved, others have not or have gotten worse. And that may not necessarily be a consequence of said improvements.
Returning to the idea of an evaluation depending on the metric, I'm of the opinion that the state of the world really depends how you looks at it. Undoubtedly, things change. It's not always for the better, but that doesn't necessarily means it's for the worse either.
Overall, I think that this year has been an average one. Given that most of the news media is negative and usually writes about problems in our world, I think it's pretty refreshing to read about the good things we are experiencing. Of course, negative things happen every day/year, and if we rate our years based on the amount of negative events, I would say that 2012 has not been amazingly good. We've had lots of problems with gun control (as we've seen very recently", environmental difficulties (massive hurricanes/typhons), humanitarian atrocities (Syrian Civil war), just to name a few major ones. All in all, I think 2012 was a decent year.
The article was an interesting one that brought to light events that have been probably overlooked in light of matters that hit closer to home such as worry over the fiscal cliff, economic status, and most recently the shooting tragedy. On a global scale things seem to be improving for the better, however as has been said, the superlatives are an overstatement. The world may be getting better, but the people aren't necessarily feeling it (its like when you hear that the economy is getting better on the news but working class families aren't exactly feeling those benefits). With technological advances as the years move forward, things such as healthcare and average lifespans, energy consumption etc all probably do improve with time. Overall, it was a refreshing change to see some positive news about the year gone by, but there is still a lot of work left to be done in the world.
I feel like even describing the year as the "best" is subjective and entirely depends on the point of view from which you are judging the year's greatness. Both the good (such as technological advances as Eddie explained) and the terrible (such as the shooting at Sandy Hook) have occurred in 2012, as good and bad events have been occurring with each passing year. However, basing a year as better than a previous year depends on perspective and the people that lived in the era. For instance, the Democratic-Republican Party during the "Era of Good Feelings" must have surely felt better about their era than the political parties of today, battling over how to avoid the fiscal cliff. And yet, the people of the past could not have possibly known how the quality of life could have improved to the quality of life today. Perhaps the world is improving, and perhaps it is not improving. It really is a matter of subjectivity.
On the topic of good feelings and bad feelings... I came across an article today that made me cringe. Once again, the Westboro Baptist Church has sunk to a lower level of moral depravity, announcing that they plan to picket the funerals of Sandy Hook victims. Shortly after, the internet hacker group "Anonymous" launched a (mostly illegal) online attack against Westboro, as detailed in this Forbes post. While I fully oppose the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church (and aspects of the Anonymous attack are kind of hilarious), both of these events left me saddened that hatred is too often countered with more hatred. Then I came across this article, which offers instead the response of Gunn High School students to Westboro's unwelcome visit two years ago. Check it out; there is a video embedded at the bottom. Best year ever? Maybe not, but with so much adversity in world, it's nice to be reminded that we are not completely futile to hatred.
I don't think we should be the judges of the "Best Year Ever." Although there may be poverty and crime in the United States, the US is a largely just and equal country that provides an astoundingly high quality of life for the average citizen. There is some saying about how a group is only as good as its worst member and I think that applies. The destitute and starving children of African and Asian nations or war-torn nations should decide when it is the "best year ever." Because when they do, we can be sure it was spectacular.
I think the principle of the "Best Year Ever" is way too ideal and exaggerated. The term "Best Year Ever" is so vague, it somewhat needs to have specifications. A spectacular year would have to include many basic human rights to third world countries, the end of sex slaves, the end of severe poverty, the end starvation and the end of massacres, to name a few. I think technological advancements only go so far. The US is at the point where Apple coming out with the a new iPad mini and an iPhone 5 makes headlines for a few days. I will acknowledge there have been many substantial advancements in technology outside of the Apple/Macintosh world. Sure there have been great improvements and our global "extreme" poverty rate is halved, but how many are in "normal" poverty?
I will agree to the idea that our world is improving and I will embrace the idea that our world will continue to work towards having a "best year ever", but I cannot agree that this year is it.
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