Overprotected not just a Britney Spears song

[jackfaire]

I was reading a sci fi book today set in a future where everything "bad" for you is illegal and if you engage in unhealthy behaviors you go to a hospital (read: Jail).

Unhealthy behaviors could include a child hugs you. If a child hugs you then your automatically considered a danger to the child and sent off to hospital.

If you like reading about pirates rather than "the good guys" your considered mentally unhealthy. Your not allowed to eat anything that has been deemed unhealthy.

Question does anyone see our society headed this direction and if so will people let it get like that?

I think it is in some ways for example everyone I have worked with in the last 5 years has been paranoid about germs. Just about scrubbing if they get so much as a crumb on their own desk and god forbid if they were gone for a day and someone else sat there.

Amusingly these seem to be the people most often sick as well.

[Rageaholic]

People always wonder why we are so anxious. Well look at the society we live in! We got everyone all paranoid about the swine flu, we got every parent worrying about sexual preditors who are just waiting for the right moment to snatch your kid, we got the news making it seem like serial killings and rapists are as common as the cold, and don't get me started on all this safety stuff that is applied to just about everything.

I'm not saying safety and caution are a bad thing, but jeez people! I have seriously needed therapy for worrying about all this stuff, but the further into the future we move, the more I am bombarded with stuff that might kill you! And you're afraid to say "this is BS" without sounding like a heartless bastard. I JUST WANNA LIVE WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT ALL THIS SHIT!!!

[Amanita]

I remember a poem that a friend wrote- "Insurance comes and dictates our lives"
She was right. Eerily so. It seems that so often, a barrier to doing things is "Liability" or "insurance". Those are often the excuses offered when we're told we can't do something.

[Boozy]

I JUST WANNA LIVE WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT ALL THIS SHIT!!!

Then do it. Stop worrying about it. Turn off the news for a week and relax. You will find that the world does not end.

I don't worry about any of that stuff.

You should also stop worrying about what other people worry about. I think people are silly for worrying about becoming crime victims (at least in my area), but that's their life and their anxiety. To some extent I'm concerned about crime anxiety when it affects public policy, but one can't get too bogged down thinking about a problem that big.

[Dreamstalker]

I generally don't watch/pay attention to the news, unless there's something of local concern like the rapist that was out last summer (or the latest security theater...what do we have to take off now and what should I do/not do?). I figure if I need to know about X, I'll find it.

Mom disagrees "zomg but you should know what's going on in the world!" (comes across as if I'm 3 sometimes)...I do. I just have enough common sense to filter out what's relevant to me/us.

Like Rageaholic said, some amount of caution isn't bad, but society as a whole seems to be going overboard. Case in point: I sometimes sneeze in bright sunlight. It's nothing like an allergy, it just happens. I sniffled on the train the other day and three people not-so-subtly moved toward the back of the car (do I look like I have the flu? NO).

[the_std]

Some countries seem a lot more prone to this than others. I can't say I've really noticed too many "zomg we're all gonna die" moments in my own country, aside from medical stuff (H1N1, SARS, that kind of thing). I think there are stronger herd mentalities in some cultures than there are in other, and people who are raised to listen to that social herd are more likely to feed into those circles of paranoia, whether they mean to or not.

[AdminAssistant]

Eh, I watch the news, I try to stay somewhat aware of stuff. There are some things that concern me..the serial rapist that bounces between here and KState, for example. So, therefore, I don't get trashed and walk around downtown by myself. Common sense, y'know?

Since I work at a college, I do watch for swine flu. Lots of students, including some of my friends, have come down with it, and I'd just as soon not. Not that I'm walking around wearing a mask and gloves all the time, but just common sense stuff. And yeah, if somebody's sniffling, coughing, sneezing...I'm not gonna sit right next to that person. Just in case.

[Rageaholic]

Then do it. Stop worrying about it. Turn off the news for a week and relax. You will find that the world does not end.

I don't worry about any of that stuff.

You should also stop worrying about what other people worry about. I think people are silly for worrying about becoming crime victims (at least in my area), but that's their life and their anxiety. To some extent I'm concerned about crime anxiety when it affects public policy, but one can't get too bogged down thinking about a problem that big.

That's what I do, I just had to rant about it.

You gotta admit, when everyone is getting everyone worried about something, I can be pretty hard to not worry.

[jackfaire]

You gotta admit, when everyone is getting everyone worried about something, I can be pretty hard to not worry.

Meh I just remember the legendary words of my hero Alfred E Neuman.

[Vagabond]

It's true there are dangers out there, and I tend to take notice when it shows up at my door (Hello, there's a Mr. Grim here, about the reaping... *Monty Python Skit, sorry).
Other than that... bleh. News isn't news - it's scare-tactics, Fear Inc. Keep you posted to their TV station so they can get ratings, so they can get commercials, so they can get money. I quit watching tv.
What I do trust is family and friends - people I trust in my neighborhood. I can't do much for people invovled in hurricanes, typhoons and earthquakes half a world away, but I can help those who are right next door.
A couple of thousand people died in Africa, so what? A couple thousand people just died in my backyard (state, shire, territory, what have you) - NOW you have my attention.

[AdminAssistant]

I can't do much for people invovled in hurricanes, typhoons and earthquakes half a world away, but I can help those who are right next door.
A couple of thousand people died in Africa, so what?

Actually, there are things you can do and organizations that you can donate to to help those "half a world away." And...people are people, whether they are in America, Asia, or Africa.

(I had a student from Cameroon several years ago. Talking to him made me really think a lot about how we treat Africa. As he said, "We are the world's landfill.")