“If you turn off the
news and talk to
your neighbors,
you’ll find that our
country is far more
harmonious than
you’re being told.” 
Rob Schneider

At the beginning of each of the last twenty years of my teaching career, I would ask my students the same question: “Do you think the world is basically evil with a presence of good or basically good with a presence of evil?” As the years progressed, student responses were increasingly in favor of the world being basically evil with a presence of good.

I certainly understand why they would think this, and why, with each passing year, a greater percentage of students would believe this. 

When I started asking this question in the 1994-95 academic year, students did not have cell phones, internet access, or social media profiles. While most students had access to network news on television, they were not bombarded 24/7 with information (or disinformation) about the negativity of the world around them.

Even then, however, students would point to network news as their justification for believing that the world is basically evil. The news they were exposed to was filled with stories of violence, injustice, hatred, corruption, and other forms of negativity. I would point out that while they are correct in their observation, they might want to consider what makes a story newsworthy — the fact that it is not the norm. News stories tell us about things that are happening in the world that are not normally a part of our lived experience. Network news is rarely good news.

With advancements in technology, students could hear these negative news stories online any time of day or night. Text messages, social media posts, YouTube videos, and “tweets” misled people into believing that murders, rapes, assaults, burglaries, carjackings, and so much more were happening around them in their own neighborhoods every day. It should come as no surprise that this barrage of negativity would influence their outlook on the reality of the world in which we live.

I have always been an adamant believer that the world is basically good with a presence of evil. The presence of evil is irrefutable. It’s there. But is there really more evil than good in our world? I don’t think so. My experience of life is that most people are decent human beings doing their best to make a positive difference in the world. Most people are trustworthy. Most people are kind, generous, and compassionate. Why, then, is it so difficult for some people to recognize this?

The quote above by Rob Schneider caught my attention for this very reason. He gets it. What does he get? He gets that what we look for is what we see. What we expect to see is what we see. What we think is real becomes our reality — and our reality is often skewed because of our over-exposure to negative news.

In the past ten years, I have done exactly what Schneider recommends. I have significantly minimized my exposure to the news. Of course, I don’t want to be ignorant. As a responsible member of society, I need to have a basic understanding of what’s happening in the world. But I don’t have to expose myself to negativity 24/7. Instead, I walk. I talk with people — people I know and people I don’t know. (Remember: “A stranger is a friend you haven’t met yet.”)

I make a concerted effort to be positive and to share my positivity with others. When I walk in the mall, I go out of my way to say thank you to the maintenance workers who keep the mall looking so pristine. I thank security guards. I thank busboys at restaurants, who are so often overlooked. When I walk in the neighborhood, I acknowledge everyone I encounter along the way, including disabled people, people of different ethnicities, and the unhoused. 

Evil is real. It is a presence in our world. Evil does not, however, dominate our world. As Schneider points out, “…our country is far more harmonious than you’re being told.”