Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
...does it seem that the world (or maybe it's just Americans) are becoming more paranoid about things that are really very unlikely to occur?
NO.
Some of them are becoming more aware, but not 'paranoid'. It's about time more people woke from the deep slumber. The vast majority are still either asleep, or in denial.
Just wondering as I read some threads on here...from many topics including medical, posting pictures on the internet, etc...does it seem that the world (or maybe it's just Americans) are becoming more paranoid about things that are really very unlikely to occur? Or that there is more buy-in with some conspiracy theories because of access to so much mis-information?
Nope. People have always been bugsh*t crazy. We just have the Internet to spread the paranoia faster.
It's always been a bit of paranoia in the air since the world turn. Let's look at the 50's..if someone wondered in a nice neighborhood with long hair...god forbid the whispering...or if a stranger came into town in 1910 from Ireland (say in NewYork) distrust and hate were form on that foreigner.
It's grown due to the web. The internet has allowed us to read other stories and forum's..so we think it's only in our time..no, since that snake wandered in the Garden of Eden distrust has rolled on....
I am aware that we know about certain groups of American's who are becoming more paranoid and fearful of government. This trend toward less trust of one's government doesn't bode well for a society that usually is boasting the merits of their freedom. The book titled, Armed And Dangerous, reveals the fact of us having a large and growing threat to our peace by those who would arm themselves while protesting their grievances with the federal government. Witness the recent debacle in Oregon at the Malheur range.
In that book the author proves the interconnection between many of these groups and the fact of their ties to radical religious fundamentalist views. The tacit support of these fringe groups is enough to allow for some paranoia, we never know who will be judging our views and how that will play out with regard to their paranoia of them vs us.
I do see some irony in the fact of right wing insistence upon having a very severe sense of justice as that relates to their old favorite political topic of law and order. Political candidates in the recent past have had to swear allegiance to this type of hard nosed view of justice or feel the sting of conservative disapproval, and now that some right wing religious extremists are defying those laws the police are often characterized as being too hard on them.
So the circle of fear keeps getting larger because people want strong, military type, policing, they want a ton of strong laws, they advocate for strong military intervention overseas, and they also want the government to remain focused on all that which may harm them in terms of terrorism. All total, this fear has only ramped up the role of government, not diminished it
I think the feeling underlying people's paranoia is entirely appropriate, but their rationales for it are misdirected. Yes, "they" know what you bought, where your car was, who you called (and probably texted), and a lot of s**t that you don't even imagine. This did NOT derive from some world government plot to enslave all the freedom-loving Muricans, but from two sources-- businesses want to know as much as possible about you in order to sell you stuff, and yes, the USD government, like every government in the world, would like to know where you've been, what you bought and so forth, because government. As a people, we gave them these expanded powers after 9/11/01 and, like any gift given to a willful child, it's pretty much impossible to take away. The security state exists regardless of the political party controlling Congress or electing the President, because government.
What we all should be afraid of is, what happens when most of us no longer can work to support ourselves because the world doesn't need the skills we have to offer? As William Gibson said, the future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed. Taxi drivers losing their jobs to Uber on-demand drivers is only a pit stop on the way to the true Uber future...no drivers at all, a result of autonomous cars. There will be far less demand for cars than before, because the whole notion of owning a car to go where you want to go when you want to go there will be humorously archaic...so the next domino will be the auto industry, where people are already being replaced by robots-- what happens when the United States only needs 20% of the cars the auto industry now makes per year? And I didn't get into how Uber reflects the gig economy, where everyone hustles for bits of work...work that, at some point, will be more cheaply done by automation of some sort...because free market capitalism.
Will we still cling to the notion of self-reliance when we don't have bootstraps to pull any more?
I'm glad I'm old, but I fear for my children and grandchildren. I've done what I could to guide the children to reasonably safe harbors, but I suspect my grandchildren's adult world will be something far beyond my imagination.
Here we go again . Anecdotal evidence doesn't equal the truth. Tell me, how do killings in Chicago compare with the 80s or 90s? How about NYC? This information is easily available on the internet. I'd bet you'd be shocked to find out that TOTAL murders in NYC are about 1/4 of their peak in the 80s. I'd assume the total population went up during this time so the murder rate is down even further. America's murder rate as a whole is roughly half what it was in the 80s, but don't take my word for it, look it up if you don't believe me. The best source is the UCR (Uniform Crime Report). Violent and property crime rates are also down significantly. Also the world as a whole is MUCH safer now than for most of the past 2000 (yes 2000!) years. This is based on the number of death from violent conflict worldwide. Sure there are isolated conflicts worldwide but no major wars like WWI or WWII or even Korea or Vietman or Rwanda. Going back even further look back at wars on the European and Asian continents before the 20th century. It was wholesale slaughter compared to today's relatively contained wars with relatively few victims. Again it's numbers, not what's sensationalized in the news that you should use to judge if the world is truly more dangerous today than in the past.
I've yet to see anyone use actual statistics to "prove" the world is truly a more dangerous place then in the past, generally speaking. The murder rate may be lower today in the US than in the 50s, but worldwide there are FAR few deaths from violent conflicts these days, though if you watch only the first 10 minutes of the news you'd think otherwise.
I agree with you.
I think part of the problem is well exemplified by, for example, child molestations. In the old days you were likely to hear about such incidents in your town or country, or in your immediate region (such as "western NYS"). Now, partly because of the way the news work (including the internet), you often hear of cases outside of your immediate area, outside of your state, on the other side of the country, in other countries.
Since I used to live in the Washington, D.C. area, I Googled it's murder rate, and is about one-fourth of what it was in the early 1990s.
Here we go again . Anecdotal evidence doesn't equal the truth. Tell me, how do killings in Chicago compare with the 80s or 90s? How about NYC? This information is easily available on the internet. I'd bet you'd be shocked to find out that TOTAL murders in NYC are about 1/4 of their peak in the 80s. I'd assume the total population went up during this time so the murder rate is down even further. America's murder rate as a whole is roughly half what it was in the 80s, but don't take my word for it, look it up if you don't believe me. The best source is the UCR (Uniform Crime Report). Violent and property crime rates are also down significantly. Also the world as a whole is MUCH safer now than for most of the past 2000 (yes 2000!) years. This is based on the number of death from violent conflict worldwide. Sure there are isolated conflicts worldwide but no major wars like WWI or WWII or even Korea or Vietman or Rwanda. Going back even further look back at wars on the European and Asian continents before the 20th century. It was wholesale slaughter compared to today's relatively contained wars with relatively few victims. Again it's numbers, not what's sensationalized in the news that you should use to judge if the world is truly more dangerous today than in the past.
I've yet to see anyone use actual statistics to "prove" the world is truly a more dangerous place then in the past, generally speaking. The murder rate may be lower today in the US than in the 50s, but worldwide there are FAR few deaths from violent conflicts these days, though if you watch only the first 10 minutes of the news you'd think otherwise.
Awesome post and kudos. I blame the media for feeding sensationalized fodder to the sheeple that believe it as gospel. It seems like common sense and the quest for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth has been replaced for the I want it now without effort mentality, just like fast food has replaced the home cooked family meal.
There are too many people running around with their hands in the air chanting the sky is falling. This blind faith in media reporting has me deeply concerned. The one size fits all mentality is going to get a lot of innocent people hurt, or worse.
I like to live in the world of what is, not in a world where I'll believe some one else's opinion of what is. I wish the media was more responsible with their reporting, and people weren't such naive sheeple.
You can call me paranoid if you like, but I'll continue my quest for the truth, the whole truth, and noting but the truth and my mistrust for media reporting and hidden agendas. Am I paranoid or do I just have my eyes wide open?
Just wondering as I read some threads on here...from many topics including medical, posting pictures on the internet, etc...does it seem that the world (or maybe it's just Americans) are becoming more paranoid about things that are really very unlikely to occur? Or that there is more buy-in with some conspiracy theories because of access to so much mis-information?
I noticed that the phrase "Is it safe to/for..." cropped up so often in all manner of thread subject lines that I came to this conclusion a couple of years ago, if not more.
Much of the problem is heightened expectations. We expect that over a sufficiently long term, the stock market will be immensely profitable to disciplined investors. We expect that if we wear our seat belts, stay sober and obey traffic-rules, that we won't be injured or killed in a vehicular accident. We expect that if we exercise, diet, and avoid smoking, that we'll live into our 80s, or at least our 70s. Consequently, we are more fearful of bear-markets in stocks, more worried about crash-safety ratings and freak stories of ignition-lock failures, more aghast over viruses or carcinogens or deadly natural disasters.
If however we expected money to ebb and flow, ascribing the amassing of wealth to sheer dumb luck; if we regarded it as entirely normal for lives to be cut short by falling off of a horse or getting trampled by a carriage (note the archaic reference), if we weren't surprised by erstwhile healthy people dropping dead from tuberculosis or getting killed in a mining-accident or getting slaughtered by invading marauder armies, then we'd have less paranoia.
The tragedy of modernity is that life is so staid and comfortable, and so pluralistic. Were we to have lived in a world of privation and suffering, a world where sheer accident of birth would define whether you were a slave or an aristocrat or a Brahmin, then we'd have less hand-wringing and trepidation. A life where misery is expected, is not a life where misery is feared.
But secretly we feel guilty that our lives are so commodious and settled. Secretly we realize that our good fortune is illegitimate, and so we live in dread of losing it – of sustaining, given the backdrop of human history, of a return to normalcy.
Yeah, I'm more paranoid! Now when I get gas I take my purse out of the car with me while I pump because of what they call "sliders" When I go to my banks atm I only go in daylight hours and am very aware of those around me. I'm extra
cautious in parking lots. I shred anything that's going in the trash that has my name and address on it. When I'm driving
I try to make sure I don't **** anyone off because of road rage. I don't go in convenience stores cause I always thinks there's going to be a robbery. Shall I go on? Times are different and it's scary.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. Anecdotal evidence doesn't equal the truth. Tell me, how do killings in Chicago compare with the 80s or 90s? How about NYC? This information is easily available on the internet. I'd bet you'd be shocked to find out that TOTAL murders in NYC are about 1/4 of their peak in the 80s. I'd assume the total population went up during this time so the murder rate is down even further. America's murder rate as a whole is roughly half what it was in the 80s, but don't take my word for it, look it up if you don't believe me. The best source is the UCR (Uniform Crime Report). Violent and property crime rates are also down significantly. Also the world as a whole is MUCH safer now than for most of the past 2000 (yes 2000!) years. This is based on the number of death from violent conflict worldwide. Sure there are isolated conflicts worldwide but no major wars like WWI or WWII or even Korea or Vietman or Rwanda. Going back even further look back at wars on the European and Asian continents before the 20th century. It was wholesale slaughter compared to today's relatively contained wars with relatively few victims. Again it's numbers, not what's sensationalized in the news that you should use to judge if the world is truly more dangerous today than in the past. 
