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Perspective vs. Paranoia
Mark Hatmaker
Today I want to talk to you about lightening up. About breathing a little easier. About easing up on the "the whole world is going to hell in a handbasket" approach to life. I want to address a school of thought in real-world self-protection that I think is a little overboard in some places--a school of thought that, I myself, may have inadvertently contributed to.
I have authored a book titled No Second Chance: A Reality Based Guide to Self-Defense and I also have a 6+ hour DVD series on real-world protection to be released soon. In both of these works I hammer the need for effectiveness; I hammer the need for commensurate brutality; I hammer the need for awareness, mind-setting, and preparedness. I bolster the need for these attributes and tactics via Predator Profiles that delineate real-world examples of the evil that our fellow man can perpetrate upon his brethren. These Predator Profiles are unapologetically unflinching in detail as I want to drive home the point of just who I define as our enemy. I stand-by this approach and method 100%.
But...
Horrible things do indeed happen in this world. Despicable acts of violence are perpetrated everyday and these occurrences are never less than tragic. We must not turn a blind eye to what is a possibility, to do so is an act of ignorance (either wishful or willful). But to be clear, real-world self-protection should be offered in the spirit of a "just in case" rational choice and not in the service of paranoia.
Rational people the world over install smoke detectors in their homes, wear their seat belts, attempt to "eat right", see their doctors for check-ups, exercise caution when crossing streets, purchase insurance for a variety of contingencies, wear safety goggles, lock their doors at night, and myriad other sage little habits all in the service of "just in case." We do these little things not because we live in fear but, because we are aware that there are some unpleasant things that can possibly happen and these little habits can, potentially, thwart their occurrences no matter how statistically unlikely they may be.
Real-world self-protection, to my way of thinking, should be offered in this spirit. It should be approached with the same attitude as one who installs smoke alarms in one's home. Place them wisely, keep those batteries fresh and test those smoke protectors once a month. We wouldn't call such a person paranoid or fire-phobic or even think them particularly odd. Self-protection training is your smoke alarm maintenance schedule. Nothing more.
Now, if we were to hear of an individual who placed a smoke alarm in every room of the house (closets included), checked them daily, changed batteries on a weekly basis, staged full-on fire drills weekly, wore an NYFD bunker jacket to bed,and somehow corralled all casual conversations into "what we can do about the growing fire menace", well, we might think that person a wee bit paranoid.
Violent and dangerous things do, indeed, happen in this world but...and this is a huge, glorious fact to be reveled in, they are occurring less and less and less. Crime rates have been plunging for years, and, I know it's hard to believe, but even world conflict ain't nearly as bad as it once was. (For those who need all the numbers to convince themselves rather than simply taking my word the books The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley, The Better Angles of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker, and Risk: The Science & Politics of Fear by Dan Gardner are all great starting points).
I know many of us when we first hear such seemingly Pollyanna statements think "How could that be? In the news just last night I saw (insert horrible thing here)." That my friends, is called the availability bias, a heuristic, or a cognitive shortcut. A resonant story the mind latches on to to keep us safe. Sort of like when we hear a shark attack story and everyone is then a bit leery about hitting the beach. I get that trepidation but, keep in mind, sharks kill approximately 4 folks per year. Yes, indeed, a tragedy but, when we consider how many millions of humans are in the water every day it adds some remarkable perspective. 4 people per year vs. everyone else in the world who happens to be swimming. The news is no fun if it opens with "Today 37, 000,000 people were not attacked by sharks." There is a maxim in the media business "If it bleeds it leads, if it burns it earns." This refers to the fact that we, as a species, are attracted to bad news so, media outlets don't create our focus on bad news so much as capitalize on it--nothing wrong with that, as long as we arm ourselves with perspective. Dan Gardner put it best "The media reports the routine rarely and the rare routinely." Now, we must admit that there are occupations and environments where risks are much higher (law enforcement, military, dangerous environments, et cetera) and these frontline occupations/locations are the exception. It is in their best interests, in fact it is part of the job description to be, well, paranoid. This escalation of awareness is not true paranoia so much as informed wisdom. But for the vast majority of the world population, all that is required of us when it comes to self-protection is a good metaphorical smoke alarm, with regular battery checks, a thought-out fire escape plan that is perhaps drilled on occasion and a skeptical mindset. Not skeptical about the state of the world but skeptical about what the media has got to report to stay in business and a healthy skepticism about our own reactions to this "information." In short, I urge us all to relax a little while still taking measured precautions in what is, surprisingly and gratifyingly, becoming a safer world. |
