Indeed, it would be quite impossible for newspapers to exist and be profitable if they performed as their critics believe, that is, depressing us with a constant bewailing of our state.  After a short time, no one would be able to bear them.  Instead, every morning our papers deliver to us a subtle encouragement to persist, as our morning prayers once did….Not too much, of course; for if the promise was too great, its emptiness would soon become readily apparent.  Rather, we are comforted every day by a report of the world’s Daily Progress.  The progress must be almost immeasurably small, to be sure,since, like a constant flurry of snow, it is recorded every day but never seems to accumulate. ~Joshua Foa Dienstag, Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit