Hi, Asher,
Why do we think otherwise?
"We" all at most times think in terms of a small time window, perhaps our own lifespan, often shorter. And within that, we are horrified, not so much by a temporally-local increase in something outrageous, but by the outrage itself.
I'm quite aware, broadly, of the improvement in medicine (the profession as well as the substance) over the centuries, but more poignant to me is why there is no primary care physician in Alamogordo that can diagnose a common cold.
I recognize that, owing to the work of Salk and many others, poliomyelitis has been all but eradicated, and am outraged that through the work of Wakefield and others, measles again reaches toward epidemic status.
The three lead horsemen of the Apocalypse were actually Greed, Stupidity, and Meanness, and they gallop on.
Now, I will watch and listen to Thomas Heywood play "War March of the Priests" (Mendelssohn, from the incidental music to "Athalie") on the Klais organ at Himmerod Abbey, Germany, while his adorable wife, Simone, turns the pages and works the presets. Organ for three hands and two feet. Arrangement with a very complex pedal part.
Then I will feel better.
Best regards,
Doug