Alarmism is Real!!

I don't want to be an alarmist, but I am alarmed by an increasing trend to alarmism in our society. People are panicking for any and no reason whatsoever. Yes, I do know that bacon will kill me. I also know that when people drink to much alcohol they sometimes misjudge the attractiveness of others. However, I don't think we can panic about everything. I think the reason we do panic is simple. Information overload. I think there is another interesting phenomenon related to Alarmism and that is Mental Paralysis

Alarmism
Many people today seem determined to stir up an emotional response about anything they can. Case in point internet safety:


Now, if you watch this video, you and I can both agree that this would alarm the #@!! out of us if it was our daughter. It alarms me and it isn't my daughter, but research is showing more and more that the kids that are involved in meeting face to face with people from the internet are often fully aware of what they are doing. I guess the video is pretty accurate because the young lady in question seems to be trying to get attention and succeeding but just not showing judgement about what she is posting. I taught Junior High for 9 years and honestly, 95% of my students were never a problem or concern at all. The 5% made life really difficult, but most of the students were either simply good or actually really exceptional. We see the same attempts to stir up emotional responses to everything from Green House Gases, to Identity Theft, to salmonella on our tomatoes. The trouble is if we see every risk that is being shouted from the rooftops as not only legitimat but critical we become victims of the other disease caused by information overload

Mental paralysis
We all have so many warnings shouted at us that eventually we become like the townspeople in the old fable about the Boy who cried Wolf. Most people consider this a fable about learning not to lie, but it can also be applied the other way. It is important for us not to ignore warnings. The trouble we have is that we have all had so many and so many conflicting warnings that it is impossible to know what to do.

Case in point: The Atkins Diet (with all respect to Dr. Atkins and those for whome this has worked) We were all warned for years about the dangers of red meat, cholesterol and fatty foods, but the Atkins diet warns of the risks of high carb foods. If we read and accepted all the warnings about food none of us would ever eat again.

Another case in point: Photovoltaic Solar Panels. These are touted as a great potential solution to energy problems, but as soon as somebody claimed their benefits someone else was out clamoring the warning that the resources needed to mine the minerals to build them would outstrip the benefits. What are we to do?

Well I don't really know because mental paralysis has already set in and I've been warned that excessive blogging can lead to athlete's foot and carpal tunnel syndrome

TTFN