The Washington Post

These 31 charts will destroy your faith in humanity

By Brad Plumer, Published: May 24, 2013 at 3:30 pm

Earlier this week, Rob Wile of Business Insider posted his graph-heavy opus: “31 Charts That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity.”

Naturally, we here at Wonkblog were all eager to see the results. But we’d quibble a bit with Wile’s interpretations of the data. His charts all struck us as horrible news. So we’re re-analyzing them here with the proper, gloom-heavy spin:

1) Inter-state wars are on the rise since 2002. Zoom in on that pink line:

Systemic Peace

2) Dictatorships still exist:

Systemic Peace

3) We haven’t eradicated human slavery:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

4) People around the world are becoming just as lazy as the French:

“The Improving State of the World” (c) Cato Institute 2007.

5) Look at all the frivolous crap we’re spending money on:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

6) Pretty much everyone in the United States can now read Fifty Shades of Grey:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

7) More 77-year-olds are dying than ever before:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

8) We vanquished infectious disease only to find more horrible ways to die:

Reddit

9) We’re making progress on cancer treatments, but ugly charts with blue backgrounds remain a depressing fact of modern life:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

10) There were 31,672 deaths from guns in the United States in 2010:

Pew

11) We’re still shooting each other all the time:

Pew

12) A fifth of the world lived in absolute poverty in 2000:

“The Improving State of the World” (c) Cato Institute 2007.

13) Again with the charts with the blue background. Stop it:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

14) The nation’s supply of cool kids who smoke is reaching a perilous low:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

15) Annoying babies are everywhere:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

16) If these trends continue indefinitely, we’ll soon be spending 100 percent of GDP on malaria research:

The Economist

17) This chart has so many squiggly lines you have to wonder if it’s hiding something:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

18) We’re wasting tons of water on showers:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

19) Rising fluoridation of the U.S. water supply is turning us all into Communists:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

20) Electrification rates have stagnated since the 1960s:

21) Some of us are still using wood for energy. Wood!

Citi

22) Pittsburgh is reverting to 1900-era conditions:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

23) The number of nerds keeps growing:

“The Improving State of the World” (c) Cato Institute 2007.

24) Lady nerds, even:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

25) People have more opportunities to get bored than ever before:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

26) It’s getting cheaper and cheaper to generate toxic e-waste:

FCC

27) Robots are going to kill us all any day now:

28) More and more people are encountering the hell of modern air travel:

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

29) This chart doesn’t include fatalities from flying cars because — oh right — those still don’t exist: 

It’s Getting Better All The Time / Stephen Moore & Julian Simon

30) Again, no flying cars. We were promised flying cars. And jetpacks:

Securing America’s Future Energy

31) BONUS CHART: People actually have to work more hours than they did back in 1895 just to afford a simple sterling silver teaspoon:

Jefferies

Don’t believe the optimists. Everything is terrible.