Turn on any news program and you’re liable to hear any one of a number of stories that stop just short of telling you that if you step outside of your front door, you’re going to be murdered.

Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. However, it is not hard to find plenty of information out there that would you lead you believe that the world is a lot worse off now than at any point in history.

From “out of control” crime to the return of “medieval” diseases, disaster is lurking around every corner waiting to put us six feet under.

But is any of that true?

It depends where you look.

While there is truth to the fact that there are issues that we are facing today that are in fact new – the rampant homeless issue in California, for example, is something we should be concerned with – the statistics across the board in just about every category tell a completely different story than the one that we hear in the news.

According to Canadian cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, human beings walking the earth today are leaps and bounds better off today than we were just a few decades ago in almost every single measurable category.

In his book Enlightenment Now – which has a note on the back cover from Bill Gates that stresses the importance of its contents – Pinker makes the case that we are healthier, safer, and far more advanced than we were in the 1960’s and every decade that followed it.

And when you look at the “third world” and the advancements that have been made which have lifted more people out of abject poverty than ever before in human history, the progress that we have made can’t be overlooked.

But that’ isn’t what you hear on the news, or on the radio, or even in the pages of some publications.

I do have to wonder why that is – why we’re so susceptible to reading something online or hearing it on the news and using that information to make up the lens by which we view the world. Surely bad things happen, but does that mean that just because they have happened that they’re going to happen again at the frequency with which we should worry?

Take, for example, the idea that popped up under President Barack Obama that there was somehow a “war on police” because of some criticisms that he launched at officers. Depending on where you got your information, you would think that Obama’s words made it open season on police officers, but the statistics didn’t bear that out – during some of those years the number of police officers killed in the line of duty actually declined.

So while we were being bombarded with rhetoric about the “war on police” those who don a uniform and go to work to serve all of us were actually significantly less likely to die in the line of duty than they were just decades ago – and that’s not even taking into consideration an adjustment for population.

This sort of Chicken Little thinking also transcends national politics. For some reason if you talk to people on the street about the quality of life in the town in which they live, the majority will tell you that it’s getting worse – that it used to be better. That it used to be safer. That is used to be more family-friendly. That it used to be – you get the point.

So, is everything really going to hell?

It all depends on your perspective and what you’re looking at and what you’re willing to believe.

Since we’re in a new year, I’m going to refuse to take a small sample and make the basis of everything that I know about a given place and wait for all of the information to come out before I make any sweeping judgements.

I’ve lived long enough to know that my attempts at civility aren’t going to mimicked anytime soon – especially since there appears to be good money in keeping people afraid of their own shadows.

But I refuse to believe that things are getting as bad as people say they are. Maybe that’s naïve, or maybe that’s using data to make informed decisions before passing judgement.

Either way, it’s time for the Chicken Littles of the world to look around with open eyes before telling us that the sky is falling.

The 49ers Are Good Again

Being a Bay Area sports fan can be a chore.

When the Giants are good, the 49ers usually aren’t. When the Warriors are good, the Giants usually aren’t. And even when the A’s are good, they’ll find a way to trade everybody for “value” before they have to sign any real contracts.

But nothing has been as surprising as seeing the 49ers turn their horrible 2018 season around and secure the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC when some experts picked them to win no more than three games.

Yes, it is exciting to be a 49er fan again.

Looking at the current bracket I don’t see how it’s possible that the 49ers don’t at least have a chance to make to the Super Bowl this year. And, depending on who they draw from the AFC, I don’t see how they don’t have a chance to at least make that game competitive.

And with a young roster and some true star players emerging in Nick Bosa and George Kittle, they aren’t just going to be good this year – they’re going to be good for years to come.

So, dust off the football-shaped platters and start stocking up on the themed napkins – it’s looking like we’ll have a Northern California team making a deep run into the playoffs and possibly even the Super Bowl this year.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.