tx1961whaler
Vice Admiral
- Joined
- May 31, 2008
- Messages
- 5,197
Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??
My life got much easier when I quit watching the news on TV. We just get bombarded with horrible stories so often that it's hard to keep it all in perspective. Back in the "old days" (pre-internet and 24/7 cable news) we may have heard about things happening locally, but certainly not all of them, and not for days and weeks in ever escalating detail. Now if something happens to a kid across the country, we know all of the sad details immediately and we worry that it could happen to ours. It certainly could, but thankfully these things don't happen frequently enough in reality to warrant total isolation. I have a CFL but don't routinely carry a weapon, because although there are plenty of crazies out there, the threat posed by them to me (statistics- wise) is quite small. I don't go out much after dark, don't have a risky job, don't carry around alot of cash routinely, don't live in a particularly bad area, don't visit bad areas, etc. It would be enormously bad luck for me to have the occassion to warrant the use of a gun. I've never even been in a situation where that would be necessary. I do carry when I work security at church. Unfortunately we have somewhat frequent car break-ins and have to patrol the lot. That's high risk enough that I carry, since there is tangible evidence that there are criminals around.
I fully agree with this and yes it is very accurate...and yes of course there is some tongue in cheek comments there w.r.t to the wife thing...no biggy.
Ironically I heard yesterday that last year over 5000 kids were injured in automobile accidents with the far greater share of these being in the morning.
However imagine trying to tell a modern mom (or dad) that their children will be safer if they walk them to school....healthier too. (good luck with that)
Clearly the line has got a little fuzzy as to what constitutes harm vs. threat vs. danger and this has been clearly marketed in spades to the modern parent.
Something has changed since our grandparents and great parents raised the current generations....and it isn't an increase in local danger.
As for general safety like the home depot point...ahh, I'm good with it. No harm in using a hard hat and high visibility vest from time to time.
All Good
BP
My life got much easier when I quit watching the news on TV. We just get bombarded with horrible stories so often that it's hard to keep it all in perspective. Back in the "old days" (pre-internet and 24/7 cable news) we may have heard about things happening locally, but certainly not all of them, and not for days and weeks in ever escalating detail. Now if something happens to a kid across the country, we know all of the sad details immediately and we worry that it could happen to ours. It certainly could, but thankfully these things don't happen frequently enough in reality to warrant total isolation. I have a CFL but don't routinely carry a weapon, because although there are plenty of crazies out there, the threat posed by them to me (statistics- wise) is quite small. I don't go out much after dark, don't have a risky job, don't carry around alot of cash routinely, don't live in a particularly bad area, don't visit bad areas, etc. It would be enormously bad luck for me to have the occassion to warrant the use of a gun. I've never even been in a situation where that would be necessary. I do carry when I work security at church. Unfortunately we have somewhat frequent car break-ins and have to patrol the lot. That's high risk enough that I carry, since there is tangible evidence that there are criminals around.
