Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt

[drumsncode]

SoonerDave, your post has had me thinking for days (I really wish you hadn't made me think).

I could write pages about how screwed-up the world is, and believe me, it's very screwed-up, and it wasn't that bad 35 years ago!

I think we're about to see a global "excrement hits the fan" event soon, related to fuel prices and inflation. I'm already seeing it. Anyway...

Yesterday I found a temporary solution for inducing some much-needed bliss. I went to Krispy Kreme and bought my two favorite doughnuts, a blueberry and a chocolate cake, took them home, looked at them longingly for about an hour (I call that foreplay), then devoured them in front of Dr. Phil as I watched Danny Bonaduce being interviewed. I spent the next hour in a low-level sugar-coma, which also prepared me to handle NEWS 9 First at Four.

If the world gets much more screwed-up, I may have to turn to the hard stuff, yeah, that's right, a Braums Brownie Fudge Sundae. No wait, I can't afford the gallon of gas it takes to drive there.

[SoonerDave]

Yesterday I found a temporary solution for inducing some much-needed bliss. I went to Krispy Kreme and bought my two favorite doughnuts, a blueberry and a chocolate cake, took them home, looked at them longingly for about an hour (I call that foreplay), then devoured them in front of Dr. Phil as I watched Danny Bonaduce being interviewed. I spent the next hour in a low-level sugar-coma, which also prepared me to handle NEWS 9 First at Four.

If the world gets much more screwed-up, I may have to turn to the hard stuff, yeah, that's right, a Braums Brownie Fudge Sundae. No wait, I can't afford the gallon of gas it takes to drive there.

Major LOL, drums...

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

I guess as I hit the middle of my 43rd year, I'm getting both more cynical and philosophical, but something is gnawing at me and I want to know if anyone else might see themselves in the same boat.

When I watch TV, I see more and more ads telling me what pills I should "talk to my doctor about" to stave off some hideous illness, ranging from tonenail fungus to osteoporosis. When I see The Weather Channel, there's always the "threat" of a "Major Storm Outbreak" that may "slam" into the region, all with scary looking graphics with lots of red and yellow hazardous "Danger!" maps. We can't just have normal, hot summers anymore - we're to all be terrified of the dreaded "heat index" and the latest "red flag fire alert." I see local TV telling me that if I don't listen to Gary England, my family and I will all die in some hideous tornado (ok, that hasn't changed too much).

The news and/or the government tells me about yet another E. Coli meat recall, another unsafe batch of *something* I should be afraid of or worried about; too much lead in the paint, how el nino or el nina is going to cause horrendous flooding or devastating drought; how plain, boring thing "x" is actually tangentially related to awful thing "y" and We Should Be Doing Something About It!! Our tires are going to explode, our bed linens will catch fire, the sun will give us skin cancer, asteroids are going to destroy the earth, and seemingly every day SOMEONE's rights and sensibilities are being offended. Lawyers are telling us how to be sure to "get our fair share" when we get a hangnail.

It hasn't always been like this. At least I don't think it has.

Pharmaceutical companies couldn't push their wares on TV when I was a kid - doctors did that. Lawyers couldn't huckster lawsuits, either. Storms came in April, and we just knew where to hide, whlie summers were hot because, well, summers were hot, and we didn't worry about heat stroke or even know what the heck the "heat index" existed. We all just lived our lives without the notion that there were so many things to be afraid of.

I guess I just wonder when, exactly, did things all go to you-know-where? When did we allow ourselves to be turned into a nation of lawsuit-happy, fear-filled, weather-horrified, pill-popping hypochondriacs, who seem to thrive on the next thing to worry about? There seems to be a section of society that enjoys creating things to obsess about, because I guess there are so many people willing to be obsessive. Why? Is it because there are too many people out there with a vested interest in keeping everyone else perpetually on the edge of an ulcer?

I'm not suggesting we all throw caution to the winds and abandon discretion and sense, but it seems to me we've tilted waaay too far the other direction, worrying about every little microbe of life as if we had much if any ability to control its ultimate outcome. We just might all find ourselves enjoying this wonderful life of ours a great deal more.

Thoughts?

Okay...Here's my thoughts, since you asked

The days of ABC evening news being your window to the world are long gone...It's now the age of the 24 hour news cycle. And they WILL fill all twenty four stinkin' one of them with ANYTHING to keep you tuned in. It's a for-profit industry and it's driven by ratings and advertising dollars.

Solutions? Watch ABC evening news instead of CNN (or whatever your poisons are). Just limit yourself to an hour of news a day. Turn on the weather only when you're planning a trip or when the sirens go off. Steer clear of news websites and use the intertubes for what they were intended for...Boobs and watching people get hit in the balls. Limit that time too (don't want to wind up like Idiocracy). Go outside. Paint your shed. Something.

Here are some of my other random thoughts:

-There is no draft, and millions dying in a war these days is incomprehensible (see, even war is getting more PC).

- Contrary to popular opinion, doctors and medicine are better at doing what they do NOW than they have ever been in history. People buying ***** pills are indirectly funding cancer research.

- Cars are TONS safer than they have ever been. So is food. So is paint for goodness sakes.

- There has been a knock-down, drag-out fight for the Democratic Presidential nomination between a woman and a black man. WOW. I don't care if you don't like either of them...That's pretty cool.

- Iran, Pakistan, and a few other countries having a few nukes is nothing, NOTHING compared to the fear you and I grew up with from those stinkin' Russkies. The odds of dying in a nuclear conflict are so astronomically low compared to 30 years ago it's unreal. You've probably got a higher chance of dying by choking on a Chupacabra cutlet than of radiation poisoning.

- Take a look around your house...Now tell me about your central heat and air, your HDTV, your "wall to wall", your thermopane windows that keep the weather nice inside your house. Creature comforts have never been better.

-Computers? Internet? An entire WORLD of knowledge at your fingertips. You can share any information you want with any other person on the planet fortunate enough to have an internet connection. It's fundamentally changed how the world interacts with itself. In a good way. Free-flowing information is always better in the long run.

I can go on like this all day...Are some things worse? Sure. World aint perfect. Never will be. But SO many things are SO much better than they were 30, 40, 50 years ago.

/been a good week

[Karried]

Nice to have a positive attitude... I used to be the eternal optimist... I find myself feeling less 'bulletproof' the older I get.

It takes a few times of getting knocked down when you realize, wait, bad things do happen!

I've been incredibly fortunate.. no major tragedies or losses.. but that worries me too! Statistically, something bad should happen pretty soon!

I've been trying to deal with it with lots and lots of walking and lots and lots of vodka..... j/k


(Although I've discovered a great cocktail...
Caramel Apple Martinis are my new best friend).

[SoonerDave]

Okay...Here's my thoughts, since you asked

(snip)

Well said, OGTS!

Please let me reiterate that I agree our creature comforts and technology are unquestionably better than they were a generation ago. My sentiments were directed more toward how people are being encouraged/conditioned to worry more than ever before, that's all. Heck, maybe those go hand-in-hand - daily lists of new perils at our doorstep, versus the reality that the likelihood of those perils actually affecting you, personally are vanishingly small.

My personal relief in all this is my faith in Christ, and as best I can I let Him take care of the things I can't do anything about....in fact, its actually a relief to be reminded you're NOT in control of everything

-sd

[ultimatesooner]

When I watch TV, I see more and more ads telling me what pills I should "talk to my doctor about" to stave off some hideous illness, ranging from tonenail fungus to osteoporosis.

if you ask your Dr. for something isn't he just a drug dealer at that point?

[muppetkiller]

I guess as I hit the middle of my 43rd year, I'm getting both more cynical and philosophical, but something is gnawing at me and I want to know if anyone else might see themselves in the same boat.

When I watch TV, I see more and more ads telling me what pills I should "talk to my doctor about" to stave off some hideous illness, ranging from tonenail fungus to osteoporosis. When I see The Weather Channel, there's always the "threat" of a "Major Storm Outbreak" that may "slam" into the region, all with scary looking graphics with lots of red and yellow hazardous "Danger!" maps. We can't just have normal, hot summers anymore - we're to all be terrified of the dreaded "heat index" and the latest "red flag fire alert." I see local TV telling me that if I don't listen to Gary England, my family and I will all die in some hideous tornado (ok, that hasn't changed too much).

The news and/or the government tells me about yet another E. Coli meat recall, another unsafe batch of *something* I should be afraid of or worried about; too much lead in the paint, how el nino or el nina is going to cause horrendous flooding or devastating drought; how plain, boring thing "x" is actually tangentially related to awful thing "y" and We Should Be Doing Something About It!! Our tires are going to explode, our bed linens will catch fire, the sun will give us skin cancer, asteroids are going to destroy the earth, and seemingly every day SOMEONE's rights and sensibilities are being offended. Lawyers are telling us how to be sure to "get our fair share" when we get a hangnail.

It hasn't always been like this. At least I don't think it has.

Pharmaceutical companies couldn't push their wares on TV when I was a kid - doctors did that. Lawyers couldn't huckster lawsuits, either. Storms came in April, and we just knew where to hide, whlie summers were hot because, well, summers were hot, and we didn't worry about heat stroke or even know what the heck the "heat index" existed. We all just lived our lives without the notion that there were so many things to be afraid of.

I guess I just wonder when, exactly, did things all go to you-know-where? When did we allow ourselves to be turned into a nation of lawsuit-happy, fear-filled, weather-horrified, pill-popping hypochondriacs, who seem to thrive on the next thing to worry about? There seems to be a section of society that enjoys creating things to obsess about, because I guess there are so many people willing to be obsessive. Why? Is it because there are too many people out there with a vested interest in keeping everyone else perpetually on the edge of an ulcer?

I'm not suggesting we all throw caution to the winds and abandon discretion and sense, but it seems to me we've tilted waaay too far the other direction, worrying about every little microbe of life as if we had much if any ability to control its ultimate outcome. We just might all find ourselves enjoying this wonderful life of ours a great deal more.

Thoughts?

My first couple of years, we dove in the creek, during a tornado. Mom was freaked out, but it was normal for us. A friend lost her leg, later. We were in transition and ignored the new guy.

David Finfrock took over after Harold Taft. We called him "Lyin' David Finfrock". Harold Taft would say, "It might get nasty, but I think it's heading South." If Harold Taft said it was going to be bad, that was the time to find a hole. Unfortunately, I think many still ignore David Finfrock. He's really very good.

Gary England spends so much time on air, I could care less. It could be the other side of the state, there he is! Three hours of non-stop weather. If I had a tornado in my part of the state, first, the satellite would be gone, then the electricity. Gary England could save his breath. It hits us, then he talks about it, for hours. Wish we could have a "head's up"! Nope, has to hit us hard, then he chats for hours.

[angel27]

My take on the advertsing and fear mongering - I've really more become stressed over all the advertising that interferes with our programing. I hear the same commercials over and over until I know them by heart and become agitated - they grate my last nerve. So now heres how I watch TV. I turn it on and mute it so I don't hear the commericials and then I can unmute whenever I see something I want to hear about. This is my routine in the mornings and late afternoon. I've observed lately I rarely unmute it and am getting along fine.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

My take on the advertsing and fear mongering - I've really more become stressed over all the advertising that interferes with our programing. I hear the same commercials over and over until I know them by heart and become agitated - they grate my last nerve. So now heres how I watch TV. I turn it on and mute it so I don't hear the commericials and then I can unmute whenever I see something I want to hear about. This is my routine in the mornings and late afternoon. I've observed lately I rarely unmute it and am getting along fine.

DVR is better than sliced bread. I watch hour long shows in 40 minutes (or less).