Saturday, October 5, 2019

Paranoia or Prudence

 There are little things that cause me to think. Yesterday it was a simple, do you remember post. This one concerns where the filler tube for gasoline on your car was. Remember when they were behind the license plate? I remembered, and also when they were behind the tail light. I had mentioned that behind the license plate was my favorite because it left clean body lines. It was pointed out however that if you failed to put the cap back on gas would spill out when you took off. I remembered that as well and it is that that caused me to begin thinking. I assume that is the reason they no longer make them that way. Nowadays we have screw on plastic caps attached with a lanyard. Some vehicles won't run correctly if the gas cap isn't on or is defective in some fashion. My thought then was, is it prudence or paranoia? I mean are we just being cautious, exercising wisdom, good judgement and common sense by eliminating that or have we just become paranoid? Think of all the safety devices we have installed on our automobiles. The earliest I recall are padded dashboards. The thinking there was to cushion the blow if your head slammed into that. Then we had lap belts to keep you from flying through the windshield. We added bumpers that were designed to absorb impacts up to five miles per hour! Still not sure about the need for that. The list goes on and today some vehicles are equipped with radar and integrated systems to slow or stop the car before a crash. Are we being prudent or just growing ever more paranoid about having an accident? Those early vehicles didn't travel at any where near the speed we do today. As the speed increased, so too the danger if you crash. Maybe we should have just stayed going a bit slower. Nah, we have to go as fast as possible. It's almost a mania if you think about that.
 It has become somewhat of an obsession hasn't it? The preservation of life. All the safety devices, the preventative medicines, the rules and regulations to protect us from ourselves. Every product comes with warnings and safety precautions. Just look at the number of labels on a ladder. We even label hot beverages as HOT, may cause burns! Prudent or paranoia? Neither really, the majority of those labels are there to protect the seller or manufacturer from law suits. Are they being prudent or are they paranoid? I'm thinking the dividing line is getting awfully blurry. Do you really need a warning that a knife is sharp and may cut you?
 It is the placing of blame that differentiates a paranoid individual for one who is not. Paranoia is also an illogical fear. Paranoia involves conspiracy theories as well. If you examine society today I believe you could reach the conclusion that we have become paranoid! We are paranoid of living. Anything that happens to us can be blamed on someone else. That seems to be the thinking these days. Listen to the commercials all those law firms have on television if have doubts. Get the compensation you deserve! That's because if you are injured, in any way, someone is responsible for that. Even if the injury was self inflicted someone should have warned you, intervened, or at a minimum warned you!   Now prudence is defined as having wisdom, good judgement, being cautious, and most important of all, having common sense. I think we can all agree there is definitely a lack of common sense these days. When we have warning labels saying, do not eat, on laundry detergent pods, something is missing! When we have to include disclaimers on motion pictures involving super heroes saying, do not attempt this at home, these stunts are performed by trained professionals, something is missing. If you believe unchecked migration into the country is a great idea, something is missing. That something is common sense! Hey, it just isn't prudent is it.
 Today, in my opinion, we have an entire political party that is paranoid! They certainly present a great number of conspiracy theories! Their proposed policies certainly can't be considered wise or exercising good judgement. The majority of their adherents appear a bit paranoid to me. If it isn't cow flatulence the ice caps are melting and will cause the sea level to rise. It's our fault! Nature has nothing to do with any of that, it's our fault. The time the earth was flooded, there is geological evidence that confirms that, sea shells in Arizona. is ignored. The waters receded and land was exposed. But now, man is causing the water level to rise by global warning. No mention of how the water receded, how it got colder,  but man is making it warmer. Well a fifteen year old child from Sweden told us so, it must be true! And the biggest fear of all, our current President! He is going to destroy the country and possibly the world as we know it today! What's worse is he is exercising common sense! Can't have that.
 Yes I'd say we have grown paranoid as a society in general. That paranoia grew as a result of what? Government protecting us from ourselves. That's my feeling anyway. The intentions may have been well meaning but there are consequences. Perhaps too is the teaching of this philosophy of always making things better. You can make a difference. What is being set aside however is common sense, sometimes things are as good as they get, and sometimes different isn't better. Yes you can make things different, make a difference. The biggest difference I see today is the failure of people to accept responsibility for their own actions. It is the illogical fear that somehow they are being short changed in life. Why it's a conspiracy. Some like to blame the rich people for all of that. The belief being, if I had everything everyone else has, I wouldn't be in the situation that I am. Not my fault.

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