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jayeff · 04-29-2004, 06:46 AM

The answer to the original question is simply that we don't care about other people and we really are not very rational creatures. Thus we get positively warm and fuzzy at the prospect of dropping bombs on bits of the globe most of us could not even locate. And we couldn't give a damn if there is annual carnage on our roads.

But we are conditioned to be patriotic (and to equate government with country) and we are conditioned to value "freedom" above all else: even common sense. So we don't see anything strange in claiming to care about 3,000 deaths at the hands of terrorists while not sparing a second thought for the thousands more killed year in and year out on our roads. We pay for wars with barely a moment's hesitation, but get outraged at the prospect of paying for better roads or more thorough policing. We sit quietly back while the Patriot Act strips away our most basic rights, but grumble and often ignore laws about seat belts, cell phone use, drinking to excess, etc.

And of course the demon media helps us be this way. All but the worst accidents are just not news, while even the rumor that something has a terrorist connection is enough to put it on the front pages.

Here's another statistic for you: an estimated 100,000 people a year die in US hospitals, because of infections they contract while in hospital, incorrectly prescribed medication, etc. In other words, most should not have died. It's easy enough to find information like that, but you do have to look for it. Just as we get the government we deserve, we get the media we deserve. They know what makes us stay tuned and what makes us start channel hopping.

To take this even further away from being just another Iraq spinoff, does anyone ever stop to wonder just how much parents' apparent care and affection for their children is really worth? Mom sticks a Band-Aid on a graze while ignoring the second-rate education her kids are getting? Dad loves his children enough to buy them expensive birthday presents, but not enough to make sure they will have jobs when they are older or air to breathe. "There's nowt as quare as folk".

04-29-2004, 06:46 AM
jayeff Confirmed User Join Date: May 2001 Posts: 2,944	The answer to the original question is simply that we don't care about other people and we really are not very rational creatures. Thus we get positively warm and fuzzy at the prospect of dropping bombs on bits of the globe most of us could not even locate. And we couldn't give a damn if there is annual carnage on our roads. But we are conditioned to be patriotic (and to equate government with country) and we are conditioned to value "freedom" above all else: even common sense. So we don't see anything strange in claiming to care about 3,000 deaths at the hands of terrorists while not sparing a second thought for the thousands more killed year in and year out on our roads. We pay for wars with barely a moment's hesitation, but get outraged at the prospect of paying for better roads or more thorough policing. We sit quietly back while the Patriot Act strips away our most basic rights, but grumble and often ignore laws about seat belts, cell phone use, drinking to excess, etc. And of course the demon media helps us be this way. All but the worst accidents are just not news, while even the rumor that something has a terrorist connection is enough to put it on the front pages. Here's another statistic for you: an estimated 100,000 people a year die in US hospitals, because of infections they contract while in hospital, incorrectly prescribed medication, etc. In other words, most should not have died. It's easy enough to find information like that, but you do have to look for it. Just as we get the government we deserve, we get the media we deserve. They know what makes us stay tuned and what makes us start channel hopping. To take this even further away from being just another Iraq spinoff, does anyone ever stop to wonder just how much parents' apparent care and affection for their children is really worth? Mom sticks a Band-Aid on a graze while ignoring the second-rate education her kids are getting? Dad loves his children enough to buy them expensive birthday presents, but not enough to make sure they will have jobs when they are older or air to breathe. "There's nowt as quare as folk".