Bradley R.E. Ph.D. Wright - Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of Our World
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2011 by Bradley R. E. Wright
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3244-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Cover design by Lookout Design, Inc.
Any internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided only as a resource; Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.
Brad Wright has done it again! Numbers show that doomsayers have got it wrong. Reading Upside is the ideal vacationyou feel refreshed and you want to tell everyone about it.
Scot McKnight
Karl A. Olsson Professor
in Religious Studies
North Park University
Upside can help correct that glass-is-half-empty-and-probably-leaking pessimism that many of us use when thinking about the world and its problems. Bradley Wright brings broad knowledge and a sense of humor to helping readers understand whats gotten betterand what still needs work.
Joel Best
Professor of Sociology,
University of Delaware
and bestselling author
To Joshua and Gabriel,
who make my world so much better
The good news about bad news is that there is not nearly as much of it as you might think.
The bad news about good news is that good news doesnt tend to sell. Everybody wants to get good news from the doctor and their boss and their (choose one) therapist/stockbroker/fantasy football league commissioner. But it turns out that articles indicating that the economy is running along okay or that rivers are relatively clean dont tend to sell newspapers, which means they dont tend to get written.
People go to conferences that warn about dire situations.
People buy books that say the world is falling apart.
Bad news has probably always had a fascination pull. Paul Revere didnt get famous by riding around saying, The British stayed home! Go ahead and sleep in tomorrow!
But living in the Information Age (or perhaps more accurately the Anxious Information Age), we seem to get bad news more often, on more channels, in high-def.
For a variety of reasons, the evangelical Christian community often seems to have a particularly sharp appetite for bad news. Authors and speakers who can document that the younger generation is about to lose their faith, or that churches are about to lose their congregations, or that the nation is about to lose its soul, never seem to run short of listeners, no matter how shaky their case may be.
The gravitational pull of bad news is a problem. Like the little boy who cried wolf, the purveyors of doom can eventually lose all credibility, so when bad news really does happen, no one is listening anymore.
But there is good news.
Bradley Wright has written a terrific book.
The good news about this book is that it is not based on optimism; its based on reality. It turns out that much of the reported bad news is often based on bad data. Ninety percent of all statistics in the media are both negative and inaccurate. (I just made that up. But Ill bet theres a bias in that direction.)
Brad is an academician, a bona fide believer, and a highly engaging writer. He has a passion for people to think well, treat statistics with discernment, and not be chronically alarmist.
He wants to help us quit mistaking negativity with thoughtfulness.
He wants to help us stop mindlessly passing on pessimistic diagnoses that are neither helpful nor accurate.
He wants us to actually be aware of and celebrate good news that is spreading on multiple fronts:
- Crime is getting better (but we think its getting worse).
- We are working less and playing more (but we think were playing less and working more).
- Poverty is going down.
Two thousand years ago, a book whose core was euaggelion good newsbegan to be widely read. We of all people should be able to recognize and celebrate and express gratitude wherever we find it. For all good news is Gods good news, and to ignore it, hide it, minimize it, or distort it is neither mentally healthy nor spiritually sound.
So take a deep breath, turn the page, and get ready to be happy.
John Ortberg, author and pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church
Theres nothing like writing a book to make you realize how much you depend on other people. The original idea for this book came from my editor, Andy McGuire, of Bethany House. I had dabbled with the ideas in chapters 1 and 2 and some of the data in later chapters, but it was Andys idea to put it all together as a book with the guiding question Is the world getting better? Thank you, Andy. I have enjoyed writing this book and, once again, working with you. So, reader, if you like this book, Andy gets credit. (And if you dont, well, just remember whose idea it was.)
My wife and I attend a weekly Bible study, and the people in it have unwaveringly encouraged me and advised me. (Several of them are authors as well.) In fact, we even spent the better part of one Friday evening discussing which topics should be covered in this book. Thank you Amy, Brandon, Chris, Clare, Emma, Ishmael, Jeff, Jen, Jen, Judy, Julie, Kyele, Larissa, Tilly, Todd, and Zara.
Many friends and acquaintances have offered personal support and technical expertise in the process of writing this book. I appreciate you greatly. They include Joel Best, Kyndria Brown, Susan Carozza and her family, Ed Cyzewski, Kevin Deisher, Mark Edwards, Jon Entner, Marc Fey, Jillian Gaither Gregory, Vince Gierer, Scot McKnight, Clarence Mjork, Caragh OBrien, Phil Secker, the Soroka Family, Joann Tackman, David Weakliem, Freeman Wright, and John Wright. I also thank the therapists at Crossroads Physical Therapy, especially Chery and Rebecca, who have done me much good.
I thank my agent, Chip MacGregor, for his ongoing encouragement and professional socialization into the world of book writing.
Most of all, I thank my wife, Cathryn, and our sons, Gabriel and Joshua, who add so much joy and richness to my life.
Chapter 1
Pessimism About Our Nation and World
The trouble with this country is that there are too many people going about saying the trouble with this country is....
Sinclair Lewis
If its individual citizens, to a man, are to be believed, [America] always is depressed, and always is stagnated, and always is at an alarming crisis, and never was otherwise.
Charles Dickens
In an airport bookshop recently, I paused at the current affairs section and looked down the shelves.... All [the books] argued to a greater or lesser extent that a) the world is a terrible place and b) its getting worse.... I didnt see a single optimistic book.
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