Perhaps, O'Rourke's thesis is partly true but there is another core reason for the disconnect between reality and news reporting. Baby boomer liberals here and in Europe now edit almost all main stream media outlets, populate the upper levels of almost all non-governmental organizations, and still hold the greatest influence in almost every first world government bureaucracy and legislature.

That being said, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the failure of Cuba and the resort to capitalism by Viet Nam etc., even die hard socialist bureaucrats are starting to realize the manifest problems with socialism. After Rwanda, years of inaction in the Balkans, Darfur etc. even NGO loving, baby boomer, socialists are starting to realize that institutions like the UN are inept and ineffectual. Capitalism has conferred more benefit to the economies of Asia (for several of many examples) than any government or UN or World Bank economic development program ever has. The stark contrast between the Koreas is clear evidence of the relative merits of socialism v. capitalism. In Europe the great promise that socialism held in the 1950's and 1960's, just hasn't panned out the way it was supposed to and the socialists are starting to show strain from the exposure of socialism's obvious flaws.

When you also factor in that elitist baby boomers also suffer from narcissistic personality you can understand how their inability to cover up the flaws in their belief system and world view are driving them crazy. What we are seeing right now is the flailing around of a bunch or arrogant, entitled people who cannot countenance the fact that they may have been wrong. They are going to tell us how horrible the world is no matter what is really happening because reality is deviating from their fantasy.