One person died in the accident pictured above.
Although Americans are as likely to be struck by lightning TWICE than to be victims of terrorism, most citizens are preoccupied with "homeland security" without giving any thought to everyday highway carnage that kills or injures one in fifty people over the course of their lifetimes. Virtually no American is interested -- not in the least! -- in incorporating European safety measures that make trans-Atlantic roadways twice as safe (per mile drived) as American roadways.
It appears that human beings "need to worry" about "something"
and that xenophobic worries satisfy this need better than any domestic anxiety.
Loss of life and limb are much more likely results of driving (or riding in) in a car
than any other activity we humans routinely perform.
Riding in a motor vehicle is rather like transporting ourselves inside one-to-two ton bombs.
We never know when they're going to "explode" but explode they do.
And with astonishing frequency.
Riding in a motor vehicle is rather like transporting ourselves inside one-to-two ton bombs.
We never know when they're going to "explode" but explode they do.
And with astonishing frequency.
***
Political Attitudes Vary with Physiological Traits
- Douglas R. Oxley1,*,
- Kevin B. Smith1,*,
- John R. Alford2,
- Matthew V. Hibbing3,
- Jennifer L. Miller1,
- Mario Scalora4,
- Peter K. Hatemi5,
- John R. Hibbing1,†
- To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jhibbing@unl.edu
Although political views have been thought to arise largely from individuals' experiences, recent research suggests that they may have a biological basis. We present evidence that variations in political attitudes correlate with physiological traits. In a group of 46 adult participants with strong political beliefs, individuals with measurably lower physical sensitivities to sudden noises and threatening visual images were more likely to support foreign aid, liberal immigration policies, pacifism, and gun control, whereas individuals displaying measurably higher physiological reactions to those same stimuli were more likely to favor defense spending, capital punishment, patriotism, and the Iraq War. Thus, the degree to which individuals are physiologically responsive to threat appears to indicate the degree to which they advocate policies that protect the existing social structure from both external (outgroup) and internal (norm-violator) threats.
***
Are Fearfulness and Protectiveness Characteristics of Social Conservatives?
D. R. Oxley et al. ("Political attitudes vary with physiological traits," Reports, 19 September 2008, p. 1667) reported that individuals who expressed strongly conservative attitudes on fourteen social issues (e.g., support for the death penalty and biblical truth; opposition to gun control and gay marriage) showed higher skin conductance responses to threatening pictures and higher startle
More...http://www.sciencemag.org/content/321/5896/1667/reply#sci_el_12395
When viewing the above poster, one third of Americans experience no cognitive dissonance.
From my vantage parents who instill such fear in their children are objectively insane.
If insane, and if -- as it appears -- such behavior is "built into" the psyches of a third of the population -- to what extent, if any, is it a democratic obligation to tolerate insanity?
"Gun Cartoons and Gun Violence Bibliography"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/07/gun-cartoons-and-gun-violence.html
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"Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals"
"An American is more likely to be struck by lightning TWICE
than to be the victim of a terror attack."
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"Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals"
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"Shark Attacks Rise Worldwide: Risk Assessment and Aquinas' Criteria For Sin"
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"Risk, Perspective and The War On Terror"
than to be the victim of a terror attack."
***
1 John 4:18
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."