On the facebag, I saw an old friends comment about the state and fear that is broadcast hourly by the bobble heads and repeated by those with zero life experience over … well, everything.

First the comment.

A friend and I were discussing last night how we are growing more hesitant to travel overseas by ourselves because we sense that despite our experience and knowing how to do this relatively safely, it just isn’t. Then we wake up and realize it’s actually worse here right now. A shooting almost every other day in our own country just cannot be for real anymore.

Now my .. reply? Is that proper? It really wasn’t directed at me, so, I am not replying in that sense. Regardless, these words just flew from my fingers with very little prompting. 

Sorry for long post. Its just I’m rather passionate about this.

The TL;DR
– We are safer today than ever
– The news and politicians try to keep everyone scared
– Tune the controllers out and enjoy life. 

Its the dichotomy of a safer society (overall) contrasted with greater fear by society, in part I believe, because each generation experiences less violence (or threat of violence). The safer we become, the less tolerant we are. In my opinion.

Couple of examples. 

20 years ago, when police intervened in bar fights (my own experiences), it rarely resulted in any arrest, and certainly never escalated beyond fists. A drunk and disorderly, at most, put you in a drunk tank unless one did something dumb like try to keep fighting after the police arrived, or a punch landed on an officer. Release from the drunk tank never resulted in a charge (that I ever witnessed). 

25-ish years ago, I navigated, often times inebriated, the foreign streets of Japan, Korea, Thailand, Mexico, hopping bars, restaurants, strip clubs and like, always unmolested. 

35-ish years ago I carried a Ruger 10-22 to sixth grade show and tell. Mrs. Uliberry’s class. No SWAT, much less any police. She just leaned it in the corner until show and tell.

35-ish years ago, I would ride my BMX all over Roy, Sunset, Hooper, even Layton and couple times out to Antelope Island, without parental supervision. No one cared until the street lights started to turn on. Hell, I remember walking home dozens of times from the Classic Skating before I had my drivers license.

2016, police and DCFS are called when kids walk to the park alone just to swing on the swing set.

I blame the media and their “if it bleeds, it leads” mentality, the 24-hour news cycle, and politicians who continually legislate to prove their importance to their constituents. 

Want to feel safer? Stop watching the news. All of it. Period. I killed cable years ago to insulate my kids from the dribble and myself from the emotional attempts to keep me scared. 

Situational awareness and listening to your gut is generally all we need. Lifes much fuller, I am convinced, by removing the negative external influences.

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