<story><title>The world is not falling apart: The trend lines</title><url>http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/12/the_world_is_not_falling_apart_the_trend_lines_reveal_an_increasingly_peaceful.single.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>diafygi</author><text>Great! We&amp;#x27;re better overall than we were! No reason to rest on our laurels, though. How can we be better than we are now?&lt;p&gt;Here&amp;#x27;s some areas that aren&amp;#x27;t doing too well:&lt;p&gt;1. Climate Change - We&amp;#x27;re in store for a lot of trouble over the next few decades[1]. How will we manage?&lt;p&gt;2. Wealth Inequality - The gap is widening[2]. How do we reverse the trend?&lt;p&gt;3. Gerrymandering&amp;#x2F;voter suppression - The ones in power are the ones who draw the district boundaries[3]. How do we stop the feedback loop?&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;ipcc-wg2.gov&amp;#x2F;AR5&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2]: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/12/racial-wealth-gaps-great-recession/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pewresearch.org&amp;#x2F;fact-tank&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;racial-wealt...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3]: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/the-pernicious-effects-of-gerrymandering/383418/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.theatlantic.com&amp;#x2F;politics&amp;#x2F;archive&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;the-pern...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>The world is not falling apart: The trend lines</title><url>http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/12/the_world_is_not_falling_apart_the_trend_lines_reveal_an_increasingly_peaceful.single.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>hentrep</author><text>This point of an increasingly peaceful world has come up repeatedly over the years, but I think there is an inherent problem in the way it is viewed. The rise of the internet and social media has facilitated glimpses into the terrible acts which humans are capable of perpetrating against one another. That combined with a biased media who thrives on shock and outrage, it&amp;#x27;s no wonder we find this data difficult to digest. Most of the modern world influenced by this biased media reside in very sterile, largely safe environments. In effect, we&amp;#x27;ve become ultra-sensitized to gore and violence, and as a result our impression and response to any sort of mayhem is skewed accordingly.</text></comment>