- Home
- Find a Therapist
- Topics
- Tests
- Magazine
- Psych Basics
- Blogs
- Diagnosis Dictionary
It will be interesting to see what results from the two recent incidents of mass murder than occurred in Alabama and Germany. To the extent that the past is prologue, we should expect to see plenty of public fear and extreme reactions from officials and politicians. Both can be traced, at least to some degree, to a cognitive shortcut called the availability heuristic. Read More
our priorities
Thanks for bringing much needed light to this matter. It's a shame that so many of us are desensitized to the real dangers of life that we give the majority of our attention to the shocking but much more rarely played out threats. However, things like diabetes and even car accidents are things that are brought about for the most part by otherwise well intentioned people, while mass murders and terrorism are played out by ill intentioned people. So maybe the acute attentions (and funds) given to these matters are not as much directed toward keeping innocent people safe as they are at showing the innocent people that we are fighting against ill intentioned people.
Also, I think people are more
Also, I think people are more fearful of things they believe they cannot control. People believe they are "good drivers" and can eat right and exercise, etc so they fear it less.
Very Good Points
You make some excellent points. However, violence is just as preventable as heart disease and millions are being spent on incarceration, when prevention is much more effective and cost efficient. We can prevent violence with about $10 - 30,000 per person per year. Incarceration costs $100 - 150,000 per person per year. It is a terrible waste of resources. We need to spend money on all of these issues, but let's spend it effectively.
What makes this even worse......
I was skipping class today because of fear of being shot, but now you ruined it!
Excellent post. What really irks me is that there are fear mongerors on this very site. "There is an anger epidemic"....blah, blah, blah. The evidence? There have been some shootings. It is almost unreal that people can write that with a straight face with that as the evidence.
The culture of fear is an excellent, easy to read book on how the media plays on people's emotions to make them afraid of the wrong stuff. Apparently though, pseudo psychologists (some on this site) like to do that too.
Interesting reading
Got to this via Bruce Schneier and found it interesting. I also can respond to the hypothetical question re: will I die in a plane crash...The book Outliers talks about the #1 cause of fatal crashes in planes.
Post new comment