In every family in the United States, there's a recent example of an ancestor who died of something that we laugh at or pay no attention to today. My unexpected lesson has been that the good news scares people or makes them angry. The American media, of course, love bad news, but are actively suspicious of signs of social progress.
Author Gregg Easterbrook talks about the ideas in his latest book, The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse. How has life changed in America over the last century? Is the average person getting ahead or are the rich taking all the gains? Easterbrook argues that life is better for the average American in almost every dimension. The paradox is that despite those gains, we don't seem much happier.