… pssst, WhyNot
It’s not surprising you were blissfully unaware of the Cuban Missile Crisis
:smack: Of course! Dang it, my brain was all thinking Hostage Crisis, and my fingers just…didn’t cooperate. 
In 1856, Senator Preston Brooks nearly beat another senator to death on the Senate floor while a third senator, Lawrence Kett, prevented anyone from stopping the beating by threatening to shoot them. What did Brooks do to provoke such an attack? He spoke out against slavery by comparing slaveowners to pimps and johns.
Moral of the story: History is full of indecent people. And if anything, the world we live in today is a lot more decent than at any time in history.
Never locking your doors just as stupid in the 50s as it would be today. But really, if you’re home and you’re awake, your doors are probably unlocked. And if you’re not home or asleep, why would you leave them unlocked?
The world has gotten richer, safer, more democratic, longer lived, healthier, more literate and more technologically developed pretty consistantly since I’ve been alive.
Obviously there are problems, some of which are trending in the wrong direction. But I think its very clear that the world has pretty consistantly been becoming a better place since I’ve been alive.
Or put another way, would you rather be a random Earthling in 1970 or 1980 or 2011?
Well, I gotta say, while I *do *lock my doors, it really doesn’t seem to matter much.
The downstairs neighbor has been having a pissing contest with the landlord over the last year. He decided the best way to piss her (and the rest of us) off was to leave the front door to the building unlocked. When that proved only mildly irksome, he started leaving it not only unlocked, but open.
I live on a major thoroughfare. In Chicago. Not a thing was stolen in a full year of this nonsense. Meanwhile, there have been a dozen house break ins and thefts on the rest of the block.
I think “lock your doors” is a reflection of cultural values, not a barometer of burglaries. A lock certainly won’t keep out a determined professional thief, anyhow.
2011, definitely.
But I consider the question, “is the world getting better or worse” to be future-oriented, while “has it been getting better or worse” to be more past-oriented. It HAS been getting better, but due to impending climate change, I think we’re at or near a local max. I’d rather be a random Earthling in 2011 than in 2040 or 2050.
I’m looking forward to meeting everyone here next Dec after Christmas.
We can have a good laugh at the silly Mayan Calendar/End of the World nonsense.
But, just in case, it’s been fun knowing all of you. 