ToW 17: Is Humanity Getting Better?

     This article by Leif Wenar in the New York Times examines the overall trends in humankind, in order to answer the question that the title presents. It looks at many details, but closely examines war and violence as an example as how humanity is getting better over time; and takes a look at evidence that humanity is on an overall upward trend, at least compared to how the media likes to show it.

     The rhetorical devices used in this article do an excellent job in assisting in its purpose. The article opens up with a narrative about the Black Death, and how the first solution to it was killing all the dogs and cats. The article continues the narrative, referencing how that we know in modern times that this act was a meaningless slaughter of innocent animals, and it shows that in some ways, humanity is rid of the plague of ignorance. This makes the concept much easier to grasp, rather than outright saying that 'Humanity is no longer ignorant.'

     Another example of rhetoric used in an incredibly effective manor is when it compared Humanity to a starfish through an extended metaphor, comparing humanity to a starfish crawling over a sharp reef that it damaging it, but the starfish is learning to to transverse the reef as it heals and regenerates, as well as picks up pace at it travels. The reason why this metaphor was so effective was also because of its placement, which was in the center of a discussion about wars, and how the total losses in wars was dropping from millions to hundreds of thousands to just thousands, clearly displaying humanity's success at winning the 'War against Wars.'

     Wenar graduated from Harvard University with a P.H.D. in Philosophy, and now holds the chair for Philosophy and Law as a full professor at King's College in London, making him an incredibly credible source for this type of article, which requires a bit of thinking. He fulfills his purpose entirely, which was not only to answer the question 'Is Humanity Getting Better?', but to also warn that while Humanity may currently be on an upwards trend, it'll require work to continue on this trend, and to not fall back down.