I've reached the soul crushing conclusion that we are not safe, anywhere

[Siwsan]

Not going to concerts, movie cinemas, shopping malls, eating at restaurants, using mass transportation, at work, walking down the street or working in your yard.

People are running around with weapons strapped to their bodies - concealed and otherwise - and now there's the worry that they will take a dislike to what you look like, or what you say, or maybe the bumper stickers on your car, and decide their world will be nicer if you are no longer around.

I know this has been going on for decades. I remember the 1984 massacre at the San Ysidro McDonald's and the 1991 killings at the Luby's Cafeteria. But those kind of events weren't happening on almost a monthly, or weekly basis.

It is seriously getting harder and harder to walk out that front door.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. When people warned me about going to Egypt and Jordan in 2012, I

said I was just as safe there as I was at the mall here.

[doc03]

2. I was in LV a couple months ago for the first time and I am amazed this

had never happened sooner. You are like sitting ducks there.

[eShirl]

3. perspective

we're hurtling through space on a rock orbiting a ball of fire

[LuckyCharms]

4. Everything is statistics.

The chances of something like this happening to any one of us at a particular moment is minuscule.

Hang tough, live life, don't worry.

[Not Ruth]

5. We have never been safe

If you are Catholic, you may have been christened by a pedophile. White Christian terror started early.

[aikoaiko]

6. Don't the data show we're less likely to killed by guns now than in the early 1990s?

[Hoyt]

9. The stats also show too much of this crap is still going on, and you guys still think your guns

are off limits.

How the hell does some gun-nut check into a hotel with up to 10 guns, and no one notices?

[aikoaiko]

13. Luggage?

[JoeStuckInOH]

14. Suitcases, Duh. I cant imagine he walked through the lobby juggling them. nt

[LanternWaste]

10. I like how you guys move the goalposts of other people's concerns.

I like how you guys move the goalposts of other people's concerns. It's bemusing in a petulant sort of way.

[aikoaiko]

12. I know. You like a lot of my posts.

It's getting easier to trigger your schtick.

[Dr. Strange]

17. I too like to make passive-aggressive irrelevant comments

I too like to make passive-aggressive irrelevant comments on someone's response and then fail to respond since I have nothing to contribute anyway.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. Women and POC learn that lesson pretty early on.

I recommend getting trauma care and active shooter preparedness training. Let go of the "should" -- as in, "I shouldn't have to do this!" -- and get educated. Knowledge is power.

[elfin]

8. Another reason Amazon is so popular?

I know I do think of this every time I go into any retail store. Too many people with guns and short tempers everywhere.

Used to be bad things happened more at night, but now daylight incidents of armed road rage, robberies etc. Not limited to"bad" areas anymore.

I hate it.

[TheBlackAdder]

11. Researcher Charles Kenny wrote BEST. DECADE. EVER. at Foreign Policy magazine and we've got it good.

Throughout history, there have been strife, conflicts, famine, disease, mass genocide, etc.

We are living in the safest and healthiest era the human race has ever seen.

What really is driving fear is the real-time news that delivers issues to everyone's personal devices. All of this has been going on, but only trickles made their way around the globe, and when news would travel, it was often many days or weeks afterwards. Media was more controlled in the past too, so things were often not portrayed with unglossed realism. Further, vivid color images are available to connect the reader with the events.



It's behind a paywall, but registering allows you to read 5 articles a month.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2010/08/09/best-decade-ever/

[JoeStuckInOH]

16. This is absolutely true. The Media at large has become the most powerful entity in the US.

Heck. The Media had the biggest hand in getting Trump elected by doing whatever they could to ensure a tight race. Landslide elections don't get high TV ratings.

Shocking headlines deliver lots of clicks, ratings, and ad revenue. Every issue and story that generates any kind of emotion is broadcast to everyone (personally) nearly endlessly in order to keep the media consumers in a state of perpetual outrage. Override logic with emotion and you can shape the public's opinion at will.

[ecstatic]

15. Just get everything in order, just in case. Between natural disasters,

potential for nuclear war, random accidents, and daily American-made disasters/tragedies--there's no telling when something could happen. It's probably a good idea to get life insurance or whatever else would help loved ones if the worst happened.