Do You Feel Safe?

[Cobalt]

I'm glad that you feel safe in bed with your partner. Ideally one's home should feel safe. Does that sense of security carry over when you are up and walking around too?

I would say it does. Nothing all that violent seems to happen where we live and our neighborhood is very low key. I guess because I feel safe with my partner, I feel safe away from him too because I know he's only a phone call away and could come to me within a relatively short time if I needed him.

[James]

[quote=Emiliano]Where do you draw the line between being aware of potential danger and being paranoid?

Being aware is knowing what is going on around you, being paranoid is seeing potential problems real or imagined everywhere, hope that helps, James

[Anocxu]

Out of every hoe here you're the best...

Aww.. you're just saying that..
*Blushing*... I think

[Emiliano]

For the most part, yes, I do. I live in a big college town, Berkeley, in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. It's all merged together into one spread-out megalopolis of which Berkeley is just one small part. There is actually quite a bit of violence of one sort or another that goes on around me... but it is rare for me to either see it or be affected by it. I'm knocking on wood as I say this. Looking on a crime-watch map, I see there have been 21 assaults in Berkeley in the past two weeks, five of them within blocks of where I live (and I don't live in a bad neighborhood at all... up-scale student ghetto 3 blocks from campus).

Perhaps it is a kind of illusion, perhaps it is because I've never been assaulted myself (ever), perhaps because I've never witnessed intentional violence... I just don't think about it. Well, that's not totally true. When I'm near some of the more "scruffy" areas (there are a lot of street people and some unsavory types around), I *do* pay attention to what's going on. I've always managed to avoid any altercations.

I have no idea what is going on in world events other than the big events (such as the recent attacks) that get mentioned in forum. I do not watch TV type news (I actually ashore it), neither do I read magazines or newspapers.

Overall I don't know what's going on globally in any detail.

That said, I DO know that the world we live in is undergoing extreme socio-economic stress, mostly due to a growing population demanding ever more energy and resources (most notably oil and water). This is creating economic and ecological havoc. So far this havoc has been contained within regional areas... but these stressors could trigger any number of global crises.

I pay no attention to the details because I feel powerless to change any of it. I don't want to live my life in fear and worry. I do what I can to minimize my economic and ecological footprint. But I know that I'm among the fortunate and my efforts amount to near nothing. I'm not wealthy by "US" standards and yet, unlike 800 million of my fellow humans, I never go to bed hungry. Worse, even though I try to minimize my consumption, I'm still appalled at the amount of trash I have to recycle every month. I think to myself, "My god, if *I* am generating this much... WTF are people who are true CONSUMERS generating?!!" :eek:

So...........

I like all the different perspectives you bring into this. And the idea of an illusion of safety because you havent really seen or directly been affected by violence/disaster. I think that can be pretty influential on a person's view of their own safety, or the safety of their community, or country. Compared to things in other parts of the world, this is a pretty isolated country.

You also have always struck me as a very intelligent, calm, positive person. Do you think that keeping yourself from all the bad news going on the world contributes to being a happier person? What you wrote reminds me of a line from a Paul Simon song.. "I get all the news I need from the weather report." I always liked that and I wish I were able to be like that too. :/

And do feel a similar ignorance is bliss mentality when it comes to worries about your health and much more personal safety? Or is that something different from large abstract things like environmental disaster and terrorist attacks?

[Emiliano]

Aww.. you're just saying that..
*Blushing*... I think

I like that your avatar is a drawing about you breaking my heart.

[James]

I always have a little bit of fear though I know how to hide it better now. The only thing to fear is fear itself, predators see that and they pounce on you..

As far as world events, I dont fear ISIS, I fear over population, multiculturilism, losing our natural resources, over fishing our oceans, cutting down our rainforest.. as individuals we can solve problems but for some reason as countries we behave like idiots

Im not afraid of ISIS, im afraid of Islam and Jeremy Corbyn (labour leader and leftist)

he wants to cut our armed forces, scrap our nucluer defense programme (im all for no nucluer weapons but if we do it as a world ffs) and chop our queens head off

The pollution we put into our oceans from as far away as the rockies, cutting down not only rainforests which are our primary source of oxygen, and lots of other things, Killing the life which brings us life, does sound kinda stupid huh, James

[Emiliano]

Being aware is knowing what is going on around you, being paranoid is seeing potential problems real or imagined everywhere, hope that helps, James

I see the difference in theory, and i appreciate how you broke it down to concise and simple language. But for example, is racial profiling, like police offices pulling a Muslim man with a gym bag over at the entrance of the subway to search his bag - is that being aware, or is that being paranoid?

[James]

If there is no other factors involved aka a likeness someone reported, then it is paranoid, they may ask him, at least in this country what he is doing and if they can look at the contents of the bag, if the go further than that it becomes a violation of the Constitution and a Federal case, James

[Emiliano]

I always have a little bit of fear though I know how to hide it better now. The only thing to fear is fear itself, predators see that and they pounce on you..

As far as world events, I dont fear ISIS, I fear over population, multiculturilism, losing our natural resources, over fishing our oceans, cutting down our rainforest.. as individuals we can solve problems but for some reason as countries we behave like idiots

Im more afraid of Jeremy Corbyn (labour leader and leftist) than those cowards ISIS

he wants to cut our armed forces, scrap our nucluer defense programme (im all for no nucluer weapons but if we do it as a world ffs) have no borders and lose the monarchy and he might be PM someday!

Asides from the fears of natural disasters and causing the planet to no longer be so able to support human societies, it also sounds like it might be the fear of losing your country's identity. What do you fear about multiculturalism?

[TwisttheLeaf]

No. It has nothing to do with terrorists... it has to do with the fact I have a stalker.