It was the glass-half-emptiest of times

The Guardian:

In an ironic vicious circle,… the despair that people feel – about developments including the rise of Trump – is the same kind of thing that fuels the rise of Trump. (The campaign to leave the European Union seemed similarly focused on sweeping away the status quo and hoping for the best.) The sense that the world is an increasingly terrible place, whether or not it really is, is itself a phenomenon with real effects that we can’t afford to ignore.

Earlier in the article:

The trouble is that, when it comes to getting an accurate grip on things, the modern media and the human brain are both strikingly poorly designed.

Perhaps making the world better has to start with the realization that it’s far, far better than we perceive. No easy feat when our social information systems and senses prioritize negativity above all else.