If one’s opinion of America were based solely on news coverage, they’d think that the country was on its last legs. The average news broadcast is filled with political scandals, crime, sex trafficking, environmental disruption, wars overseas, and health warnings about everyday household items.
However, that’s not just a 2025 problem. As the adage goes, “If it bleeds, it leads,” and humans have a negativity bias when it comes to the news. Stories centered around things we should worry about capture the most attention because humans are hard-wired to pay attention to possible dangers rather than the things that are going well in the world.
The dark reality of modern media makes it challenging for people to maintain a positive outlook on the future of their country. They may think their life and those in their community are going well, but outside of their neighborhood, the world is nothing but turmoil.
To give people hope that there's still a lot of magic left in America, a Reddit user posed a question to the AskReddit community: "What’s something positive happening in America right now that doesn’t get enough attention?" and they received over 3,400 responses. Many of them center around fantastic developments in medicine or the fact that America is experiencing a precipitous drop in violent crime.
15 “positive” things happening in America right now that don’t get enough attention
1. New AIDS medications
"There’s an AIDs treatment at 100% preventative. It’s being licensed royalty-free to six generic manufacturers."
"I heard a doctor recently say they'd rather have HIV than be diabetic - something that would've been completely unthinkable and utterly insane to say even a couple of decades ago. But with HIV, you can now take a pill and, provided you stay on top of things, live symptom-free and not even have to worry about transmission. Not to mention the preventative medications that have significantly reduced the risk of contracting it. Seeing something that - within the span of my own life - went from being a potential death sentence to more or less being akin to high cholesterol really makes you appreciate science and medical advancements."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
2. New MS advancements
"We have found a medication that significantly slows the course of multiple sclerosis, and it is currently undergoing trials for a potential cure."
3. Great libraries
"Our public library is busy and well supported."
"Ours rents out musical instruments, puzzles, paintings, a few appliances. It's so incredibly cool!"
4. Active shooter deaths down
"Last year, active shooting deaths fell from what they were in previous years, after years of increases."
"I think it has to do with the media not covering shootings and shooters as much bc it’s become commonplace. The news was making these shooters famous for a long time."
5. We still have Dolly
"Dolly Parton continues being kind."
"Dolly is an unsung (well, she sings, but you know) national hero! The things that she personally has done for our children and literacy are great!"
6. Violent crime down
"This may be something you'd file under 'less negative' instead of positive, but violent crime appears to have dropped to pre-pandemic numbers in most of the nation."
"Furthermore, it was on a steady decline starting back around the 90s, with a blip up around the pandemic. So violent crime isn't even the lowest it's been since the pandemic, it's the lowest it's been for an extremely long time."
7. Stronger laws protecting animals
"Animal neglect and cruelty have started to become a felony."
"I'm glad even random municipalities are now passing animal neglect and cruelty as felonies for the last few years!"
8. Teen pregnancy is down
- YouTube www.youtube.com
9. Greater access to legal cannabis
"In a lot of the USA, you don’t have to worry about being busted for simple possession of weed anymore, and there is a lot of safe access to cannabis in those places as well."
10. Opiate deaths are down
"Opiate deaths are way down. Mostly due to the availability of Narcan."
"Narcan is everywhere in my state now, even in highway rest stops. Really awesome to see."
11. Ryan Trahan's fundraising
"Ryan Trahan's 50 states in 50 days to raise money for St Jude Children's Hospital. Check out the series on YT - over $10m raised so far. Only 2 states left to go."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
12. South Park is back
"The episode of South Park was a great and powerful thing. Can’t be scared to speak up."
"Right?!?! Americans making fun of their government is the most natural thing. We need our groove back."
13. Savannah Bananas Baseball
"I’m excited that they’re getting so big! A few years ago, you could only catch clips on their socials. Now I regularly watch games on sports channels. I’m hoping a new league takes off!"
"I live on an island in the middle of the North Sea, Shetland Isles, and I love seeing clips of the Savannah Bananas, Man-Nana's, and the Savannah Nana's. Always puts a smile on my face."
14. Matt Murry's notebooks
"There's a guy on Tiktok who was in search of a very specific notebook for his autistic brother. Fearing they were discontinued, he put out a plea to help him find enough notebooks to last his brother. The community responded, as did the company, and he's now close to 1000 notebooks sent to him (well above his 500 goal). He's since been paying back the support by donating to teacher wishlists across the country. Nothing crazy like a Mr.Beast, but small amounts to help chip away at teacher driven initiatives."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
15. Better representation in entertainment
"People of color play significant parts in each and every movie, TV show, and commercial, regardless of the story. Like a black mom, white dad, Asian kid, mixed kid, and Hispanic partner at work. They got all the bases covered."