To browse social media is to immerse oneself completely in a dystopian vision of America, one where essential services and basic infrastructure are just a day away from total collapse.
Though the United States has problems, and new ones seem to crop up each week, we’re not so broken as social media would have us believe. We’re a long way away from a complete breakdown, thanks to a complex network of response systems and the professionals who operate them, many of whom go largely unnoticed.
Take, for example, the destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge near Baltimore. On Tuesday, at around 1:30 a.m., a Singapore-registered container ship, MV Dali, collided with a support pillar, collapsing the heavily traveled bridge into the Patapsco River. Eight construction workers were on the bridge at the time of the collision. Two men were rescued, two bodies were recovered, and the remaining four are presumed dead.
Though the incident is shocking, there’s a silver lining. The emergency systems designed for such a scenario kicked into action the moment it became clear a disaster was about to occur, keeping the death toll to a minimum. The MV Dali lost power soon after it departed the Baltimore port. Trained for such a scenario, the ship’s crew immediately sent a mayday distress call. Maryland officials scrambled, blocking traffic flow and closing down the bridge. They even rushed to remove the construction workers. Unfortunately, they were too late.
Yet the fact remains: The ship’s crew and state officials did everything they could to limit the disaster. They snapped to attention, ticking off the processes for such an event and limiting the number of accidental deaths.
The crash is nothing to sniff at, but it’s also important to recognize that all the response systems put in place for precisely this type of incident kicked in and did so in a way that saved several lives. Though doomsayers point to the collision as evidence of a deep rot within the country, don’t forget the mitigation and rescue efforts, both of which have been impressive in their own right.
It turns out not everything in this country is rotten beyond repair!
Speaking of rotten, a judge sentenced FTX founder and “crypto king” Sam Bankman-Fried on Thursday to 25 years in prison for his role in a massive multibillion-dollar fraud.
Bankman-Fried’s crimes are shocking. The extent to which he defrauded investors is breathtaking. What’s likewise notable is that Bankman-Fried is going to prison despite being a well-connected person. Remember: Many embezzled monies were funneled directly into campaign coffers, primarily benefiting Democratic politicians. The more cynical among us assumed that Bankman-Fried would skate because, well, that’s what the wealthy and well connected do in this irreparably broken country. Bankman-Fried is the type of person they point to when they say the country has a two-tiered justice system. Yet here we are, with Bankman-Fried slated to serve over two decades in prison for fraud.
In an exceptionally cynical era, when most assume that the wealthy can get away with anything, it’s essential to remind people that justice exists and that even the influential and politically connected may face jail time for their crimes.
Elsewhere, in other stories that appear bleak beyond hope, there’s the Boeing debacle in which the airliner’s passenger jets keep falling apart. Luckily, no one has been killed or seriously injured, but that’s only by the grace of God.
And although it seems there is no positive takeaway insofar as the Boeing situation is concerned, one exists. As soon as reports hit that a door flew off an airborne 737 MAX 9 passenger jet, the National Transportation Safety Board sprang into action, doubling its efforts to enforce a measure of accountability and transparency on the company. Unsurprisingly, in terms of compliance, Boeing is dragging its feet, but this has only steeled the NTSB’s resolve to oversee the airliner. Responsible parties are taking action, and they’re not simply letting it go or, worse, sweeping Boeing’s failures under the rug.
One can point to Boeing’s declining standards and draw an unflattering conclusion about the state of the country, but to do so while ignoring the efforts of the NTSB or the fact that the airliner’s CEO was pushed out this week following a revolt by the company’s customers is to focus on only a part of the whole story. It’s to see a narrative where there is only mismanagement and incompetence and to ignore the efforts to hold Boeing accountable.
Collisions and industrial accidents will always exist. Conmen and fraudsters will always walk among us. Sloppy engineering and subpar corporate standards are not going to disappear any time soon.
It is heartening, then, to know that we live in a country where these things are taken seriously, where they are reported out in great detail, where even the well connected serve jail time, where disasters are mitigated quickly for maximum life-saving effect, and where lackadaisical corporate standards are met with a swift response from customers and the governing bodies tasked with overseeing such things.
In other words, this isn’t China. Not by a long shot, though you’d think otherwise from consuming social media content.
The problem with social media is that, like the news media, it feeds on the negative, the rotten, and the tragic. If it bleeds, it leads. To “doomscroll” endlessly, absorbing images of failure accompanied by the know-nothing commentary of “influencers” who depend on crises for content generation, is to face an endless barrage of all that is beyond repair.
But if you pay attention, you will notice the things that don’t sell papers or make viral videos. You’ll notice that for every problem faced in this country, there’s a near-equal measure of ruthless efficiency and competence.
The point isn’t to Pollyanna. The point is to understand clearly where we are so that we don’t accidentally become the counterreaction we all seem to fear.
America has problems. But it’s not as bad as it seems.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM RESTORING AMERICA
Becket Adams is a columnist for the Washington Examiner, National Review, and the Hill. He is also the program director of the National Journalism Center.