Risk phobia

[unixronin]

Lenore Skenazy wrote a telling article a couple of months back about helicopter parenting run amuck and our society's growing gibbering terror of anything that possibly MIGHT pose the slightest risk.  "Don't run with scissors"?  Try "ZOMG, don't run, you might TRIP AND KILL YOURSELF!"

Honestly, I've many times wondered how in hell some people get through their daily lives at all, when it seems they're so scared of EVERYTHING that it's a miracle they can find the courage to get out of bed in the morning.  Sterile shopping cart liners, lest your kid touch a metal bar that's been touched by a soup can that's touched someone else's hand?  Hastur in a merrywidow, people, let your kids out of the sterile bubble and give them some kind of real-world chance at developing a functional immune system.  Yeah, if you let them run at the playground, they might trip and fall.  Better by far to let them learn to judge risk for themselves now while the risks are small.

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

See also Nietzche: "That which does not destroy us makes us stronger."

Sometimes I think there is a part of society that wants to turn us all into Wells' Eloi.

[lizzibabe.livejournal.com]

It's lucrative for people to live in fear, that way they'll buy products that assuage that fear. I blame the human urge to advertise, personally. If you want to sell a product, invent a need for it. It started with bad breath, underarm odor, and "unwanted hair".

I also believe it's no different from the accusations of Witches! that swept the country a few hundred years ago. If you get people frightened of witches and evil eye, you can sell them protective amulets and charms.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

"The first thing we do is, we kill all the advertisers."

[lizzibabe.livejournal.com]

I can get behind that.