Has it always been like this?

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sarsar

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In the last couple of years, a series of devastating events seems to have occurred one after another, 9/11, The London Subway attacks, The Tsunami in East Asia, Hurricane Katrina, The Shootings at Virginia Tech and most recently, the Earthquake in China, and many more events. Has there always been myriad of tragic events that happen so close to each?

I started noticing all this at 9/11, I guess that was my wakeup call so has there always been such huge amounts of tragic events so close to each other? Maybe I was was just to young enough to notice it all back them, but has it always been this way?
 
You're not the first person to claim that "the last couple of years" have been worse than ever. I've been hearing it all my life. Get used to it.

You might consider that the impact of events tend to fade with time. But the answer to your question is, no, it has not always been like this. In the past, it was much worse...insofar as the number of people dying. The events themselves have always been occuring.

In the 1930s, over 30 million people were killed by a flood in China. In the 1910s, millions upon millions of Americans died in a flu epidemic. In 1900, over 6000 people died in a hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas. Seriously, what is happening these days to compare with those tragedies?

But it's not so much that storms, disasters, and crimes were so much worse back then, it's that we are far more capable of dealing with them these days. Except in stone-aged places like Myanmar, far fewer people die in hurricanes today than in the past...thanks to accurate forecasting and better building codes.

What many people lack is *real* historical perspective. Of course, it's not so easy to get that these days since our schools don't teach history and we are now inundated with dozens of 24/7/365 news channels which tell you every single bad thing that happens and then sensationalize it to make it sound more horrible than ever.

Even in the 1970s, you never heard about every death from every tornado. Truth is, a lot more people died from tornadoes back then...but that's not the impression that you'll get from the news.
 
There have always been tragedies all over the world, the only difference is the media coverage.
 
I'm a youngin too and I've been worried about the same exact thing. I don't remember it being this bad as a kid but then again, I wasn't really worried about natural disasters and terrorists when I was 8 and under...
Now it seems as if something horrible is happening every day. All you hear on the news is death and dying and explosions and dispair. It's sickening!
I really want to believe that it's always been this way and the media is playing a big role, but lots of people tell me that it's only going to get worse.
I don't really want to believe that... I kind of want to live and not die of a pandemic or earthquake.
We actually felt a rumble a couple weeks ago from an earthquake in Indiana. It was weirrrrd.
 
There is more media availability then there was many years ago. The ability to instantly zap a video or news story across the globe in seconds. There are more people active in News reporting then many years ago and with all the technology we have these days, instead of one or two stories filling up the air waves and internet, it is thousands of them. Lots of bad stuff has always occurred, like the massive earthquake in San Francisco in the 1800's, hurricanes during the same period, etc. we just know about all of them more now.
 
Unfortunately- yes. Even though disasters occur randomly over time, that does NOT mean that they can't happen in a Series. Every hear the old Adage, "Bad stuff happens in 3's" ? Well, not only is THAT true- but they can happen in 4's & 5's too (though NOT as Often- thank heavens!) ! So the next time YOU'RE going through a "Bad luck streak in Dancing School..."- just remember, it happens in NATURE- too! :(
 
It is nothing new. We just have more technology to spread the word then we used to. China, for instance, had a much bigger quake in the 70's. Around the same time we had the Vietnam War and kids getting gunned down by the police. Before that there was wars and terrorism all over the world and always will be. You should do some yahoo searches and check out some World History. You would be amazed at the amount of terrorism and war and catastrophes that have always plagued the Earth.
 
I don't think so ,I agree since 9/11 things have been bad worldwide choas. My answer is to bury my head in the sand and try not to read newspapers or watch news. to be honest i have had enough personal tragedy over the past few years so i think this is my way of keeping sane. I like to look on the positive sides of life and have concentrated on love for my man, my daughters and my animals and music and books. I'm happy and i wish there wasn't so much greed in the world . John Lennon's Imagine are really needed today .
 
I don't think it is necessarilly something new, the only reason you are noticing more tragic moments is because they show more of it on TV. Today with alot of media coverage you are noticing more people push news like it was on sale just for ratings. You see it on CNN and on youtube. The problem is with the new technology, with are flooded quicker and longer with stories that years ago would not have been covred/
 
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