Judging by what I'm reading / seeing on the news, on Facebook, and around the virtual water cooler, we've become a nation of twitching, babbling, scaredy cats. Now lots of people are saying they'll stop reading the news altogether since it's just full of stories about terrorism and such. Why? Will not watching the news make them any more safe?
Some nut case terrorists attacked Paris, killing 130 and injuring more....serious for sure, but think of it this way: Paris has a population of 2,340,000 people, with another 5,000,000 tourists visiting each year, too. Over the course of a year, your odds of being killed by a terrorist in Paris are roughly 1 in 6,600,000.
Other ISIS assholes smuggled a bomb on board a Russian plane in Egypt and blew it up, killing hundreds. But that same day there were roughly 93,000 other airline flights worldwide. Over the course of a year, the odds of YOUR flight being blown up by terrorists are 1 in 33,045,000.
Judging by the paranoia I'm seeing we seem absolutely certain Mohammad the terrorist is waiting right outside our door holding a bomb with our name on it.
Meanwhile, your odds of being struck by lightning are 1 in 1,107,000. Your odds of dying while swimming or jogging are roughly 1 in 1,000,000. Your lifetime odds of dying in a car wreck are 1 in 6,700. I won't even get into the odds of you dying due to a lifetime of smoking or heavy drinking or overeating.
Yet we still play outside, swim, jog, smoke, drink, eat....and think nothing of it. *Pffft....ain't skeered*
Of course, you shouldn't do "nuthin' dumb", either. Don't stand in the middle of a golf course during a thunderstorm holding a 9-iron high over your head. Don't plan a vacation to Syria or Nigeria or a cruise near Somalia. Don't fly on an airline based in Africa or a few other third-world places (not to mention Russia or Malaysia). If you see an unattended package in a crowded place, stay back and call the police.
GET A GRIP, PEOPLE! Go about your business. Work hard, play hard. Be aware, yes, but don't live your life scared.
S
You might forward this to the national GOP office, they'd tack it on their bulletin board under the heading 'Heresy". Fear is what they are counting on when they suggest stopping refugees that are from Syria, or in the case of a couple of the worthies, Muslims.
ReplyDeleteHa! Yes, fear is a powerful political tool...because we let it.
DeleteI ain't afraid of no Muslims.
ReplyDeleteYet we still play outside, swim, jog, smoke, drink, eat... and think nothing of it.
ReplyDeleteSpeak for yourself. You wouldn’t catch me jogging. Did you know that more people die while out jogging than are killed by tapirs?
*Snicker* Yes, I was wondering about that rabid tapir statistic. We're in agreement on jogging, too. I love that saying, "If you ever find me dead on a jogging trail, just know I was killed somewhere else and dumped there."
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteSimon has me thinking now... I do go walking/running in alligator territory. Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteI would not walk in alligator territory but I sure as hell would run!
ReplyDelete