Another Day In The Neighborhood, Another Mass Shooting

[Mercer]

6 hours ago, FundieFarmer said:

I also wonder how much of my perspective is different than my parents'. One of my earliest memories is 9/11. I don't know a world that isn't impacted by terrorism. I wish I could have a true grasp on what it was like for them to get to grow up running free- not afraid to walk down the street or get on a plane.

I think feeling safe is relative, and is often something you don't really consider until you lose that feeling.

Terrorism wasn't as much on the national radar as it is now when I was growing up, but I heard plenty about the World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City federal building attack when I was a kid. 9/11 had a much higher body count than either of those, but we didn't know something with a higher body count was coming, so that was also only clear in retrospect.

When I was a kid, going to the airport didn't seem very safe because you had to put your purse (or stuffed animal) through the x-ray machine and walk through a metal detector, and there were guards, etc.

It's nothing compared to how it is now, but at the time it seemed like a big deal. It seemed normal to be able to walk to the gate with a passenger and see them off, so we didn't really think about it till you couldn't do that anymore. It seemed like a lot of extra security to have someone examine your personal effects and walk through a detector because it was so unusual for a public place at the time, even though looking back it seems barely cursory. 

In retrospect, some things seem like they were a lot safer back then. (Although I grew up with Stranger Danger and the tail end of Satanic Panic, so some things were viewed as more dangerous than they are now.) At the time, though, life was just life and we didn't see ourselves as running free or particularly unafraid. 

For my parents' generation, it was Polio, nuclear war, and communists. There's always been something to fear, and probably always will be.

[Cleopatra7]

36 minutes ago, Mercer said:

I think feeling safe is relative, and is often something you don't really consider until you lose that feeling.

Terrorism wasn't as much on the national radar as it is now when I was growing up, but I heard plenty about the World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City federal building attack when I was a kid. 9/11 had a much higher body count than either of those, but we didn't know something with a higher body count was coming, so that was also only clear in retrospect.

When I was a kid, going to the airport didn't seem very safe because you had to put your purse (or stuffed animal) through the x-ray machine and walk through a metal detector, and there were guards, etc.

It's nothing compared to how it is now, but at the time it seemed like a big deal. It seemed normal to be able to walk to the gate with a passenger and see them off, so we didn't really think about it till you couldn't do that anymore. It seemed like a lot of extra security to have someone examine your personal effects and walk through a detector because it was so unusual for a public place at the time, even though looking back it seems barely cursory. 

In retrospect, some things seem like they were a lot safer back then. (Although I grew up with Stranger Danger and the tail end of Satanic Panic, so some things were viewed as more dangerous than they are now.) At the time, though, life was just life and we didn't see ourselves as running free or particularly unafraid. 

For my parents' generation, it was Polio, nuclear war, and communists. There's always been something to fear, and probably always will be.

I remember the Branch Davidian siege, and was freaked out when I saw a TIME magazine gallery of the people who were killed indicated that some of the kids who died was my age. I was also in middle school when the Oklahoma City bombing happened and that was very scary. The period when I was in high school was when school shootings really became a thing, and Columbine happened when I was a sophomore in high school. I don't think this country (the USA) was ever "innocent" about anything. How could we be when we were founded on slavery and genocide? Our parents were concerned about nuclear war and our grandparents were worried about Hitler and a possible Japanese invasion of the West Coast. Yet, for us millenials, Pearl Harbor and the Cold War are nothing but old history captured in black and white photographs. Perhaps 9/11 will be that way for our grandchildren, a "day of infamy" that means nothing to them, as they deal with a threat we can only scarcely imagine in 2015.

[EyeQueue]

As someone who grew up during the end of the cold war (70s and 80s), I can say that for some reason the scare factor relating to nuclear war back then was less terrifying (for me, anyway) than the current fears of being gunned down by a terrorist, or getting my head chopped off, or being blown to bits in a building bombing.

I'm not sure why, because nuclear annihilation, no doubt, is not walk in the park. Maybe it's because of the personal element? The gun and decapitation thing seems really up-close-and-personal and therefore more terrifying, whereas nuclear armaggeddon is on such a huge, impersonal scale that it was less scary.

I know it doesn't really make rational sense, but there it is.

[Blahblah]

6 hours ago, EyeQueue said:

As someone who grew up during the end of the cold war (70s and 80s), I can say that for some reason the scare factor relating to nuclear war back then was less terrifying (for me, anyway) than the current fears of being gunned down by a terrorist, or getting my head chopped off, or being blown to bits in a building bombing.

I'm not sure why, because nuclear annihilation, no doubt, is not walk in the park. Maybe it's because of the personal element? The gun and decapitation thing seems really up-close-and-personal and therefore more terrifying, whereas nuclear armaggeddon is on such a huge, impersonal scale that it was less scary.

I know it doesn't really make rational sense, but there it is.

I agree. Also if nuclear Armageddon is about to happen I think we'd have an inkling about it. This random target stuff is terrifying because you don't/can't see it coming. Nowhere is safe, not the movies, theatre, restaurants, schools etc.

We are taking the kids to Sydney for Christmas & we're making plans to have a stash of cash and an escape route if anything goes wrong. teenBlah is refusing to go to some of the main tourist attractions because of a blind fear of terrorist attack.

We have lost our innocence. That's nasty for an adult, but it's the kids too. What a world to grow up in.

 

[Toothfairy]

Dailynews is throwing major truth at the Republican party, NRA,  and gun companies. It's so sad that guns are more important than safety

[Cleopatra7]

On 12/12/2015 at 1:02 AM, EyeQueue said:

As someone who grew up during the end of the cold war (70s and 80s), I can say that for some reason the scare factor relating to nuclear war back then was less terrifying (for me, anyway) than the current fears of being gunned down by a terrorist, or getting my head chopped off, or being blown to bits in a building bombing.

I'm not sure why, because nuclear annihilation, no doubt, is not walk in the park. Maybe it's because of the personal element? The gun and decapitation thing seems really up-close-and-personal and therefore more terrifying, whereas nuclear armaggeddon is on such a huge, impersonal scale that it was less scary.

I know it doesn't really make rational sense, but there it is.

I think if the international political scene ever deteriorates to the point where nuclear war becomes a likelihood, we'll probably die instantly when the missiles hit. Hydrogen bombs are much more powerful than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I don't think survival of any living thing would be likely. Those of us living in big cities would be buried alive as skyscrapers collapsed, assuming we aren't evaporated by the strength of the missile itself. Of course, I don't see nuclear war happening because it would mean mutually assured destruction for both sides, but I can see why terrorism and spree killings would seem scarier than nuclear war. Mass shootings happen almost every day, while atomic weapons have only been used twice.

[singsingsing]

Yeah, but are you guys actually afraid of being shot or decapitated by a terrorist? I'm not saying the current situation isn't alarming, but you know how incredibly unlikely that is, right? I hate to be a broken record, but the car crash analogy again - there are about a million things you probably don't even think about that are a much bigger threat to you on a daily basis than a terrorist attack (unless you live in Syria or something).

[FundieFarmer]

Not by a terrorist, though I do live in an area that would be more at risk than many- the land of the Mouse House.

I would be more worried about an angry person who's pissed off at our organization or just pissed off in general than terrorists. A recent article found 27 of 2015's 355 mass shootings have been in my state (9 of which were in my city or within an hour or so of me). I agree other things are more dangerous, but I don't love that ratio.

[singsingsing]

23 minutes ago, FundieFarmer said:

Not by a terrorist, though I do live in an area that would be more at risk than many- the land of the Mouse House.

I would be more worried about an angry person who's pissed off at our organization or just pissed off in general than terrorists. A recent article found 27 of 2015's 355 mass shootings have been in my state (9 of which were in my city or within an hour or so of me). I agree other things are more dangerous, but I don't love that ratio.

I'd definitely be more worried about that, too. And I realized the way I phrased my posts could sound pretty glib. So I just want to throw it out there that when I was in university, often as I sat in a lecture hall I'd look around, look at the exits, and think about how I'd escape if someone burst in with a gun. I'm nervous about flying even though I know it's far, far safer to get on a plane than to get in a car. I think it's normal to worry about some of these things... it's only a problem when the fear becomes so overwhelming that you can't live your life.

[FundieFarmer]

I agree, @singsingsing! It really sucks when you have those thoughts about how you'd evacuate in a space that should be safe. I find it scarier when it's just everyday, mundane places that are the risk. But sooner or later you've gotta go to the grocery

[EyeQueue]

1 hour ago, singsingsing said:

Yeah, but are you guys actually afraid of being shot or decapitated by a terrorist? I'm not saying the current situation isn't alarming, but you know how incredibly unlikely that is, right? I hate to be a broken record, but the car crash analogy again - there are about a million things you probably don't even think about that are a much bigger threat to you on a daily basis than a terrorist attack (unless you live in Syria or something).

In my case, I meant only by comparison. When I was growing up, The Big Scary was nuclear war. Now the media has attempted to make The Big Scary terrorist attacks. I guess that's where I was a bit vague in my post. I meant what appear to be general fears among the population in the US, and not necessarily me specifically.

Sure--I have concerns about terrorist attacks, but it definitely doesn't rank as one of my top fears. I'm actually *way* more afraid of dying in an automobile accident (to the point where I don't like going on long-distance car trips), or being shot by some idiot gun toter who doesn't take proper safety precautions (like those couple of women who had guns in their handbags and their kids got them and fired them off).

ETA: @singsingsing: I'm also nervous about flying, despite the stats. Well, way more nervous. I actually panic regularly on board, so have to take drugs.