I can think of many examples when I have crossed the line and unwittingly put myself in harm's way.
One example comes to mind, which when I think back I am horrified I did this.
It was summer time and hot. I decided to go to a small country public swimming pool with my infant daughter. It was in the hills and I had to drive up a mountain, a long winding isolated road. Halfway there, I ran out of petrol. Here we were stranded and a lone male in a car pulled up and asked if he could drive me to the top of the mountain where there was a petrol station. I accepted. This man drove there, gave me a container to put the petrol in, drove me back, (I should say "us", my daughter and myself) put in the petrol and drove away. Was I crazy, with hindsight, I think I was.
The dangers of strangers
Re: The dangers of strangers
No, you were not crazy. You were free of the paranoia which is infecting almost every community and poisoning almost every normal social interaction.
What are the odds of a rapist, kidnapper or serial killer driving up that road at just that time? That depends on what percentage of the male population of your community is one of the above, what their work and stalking schedules are, the traffic on the road at that time of day.... some pretty complex math. But most of the people, in most places, most of the time are sane and law-abiding, and many are also generous and well-intentioned.
Popular entertainments give us a very skewed impression of the world.
What are the odds of a rapist, kidnapper or serial killer driving up that road at just that time? That depends on what percentage of the male population of your community is one of the above, what their work and stalking schedules are, the traffic on the road at that time of day.... some pretty complex math. But most of the people, in most places, most of the time are sane and law-abiding, and many are also generous and well-intentioned.
Popular entertainments give us a very skewed impression of the world.
Re: The dangers of strangers
I like how this was phrased. It illustrates to me how bad people believe their luck is; that they'd stumble upon a rapist in that exact place at that exact moment.Skip wrote:No, you were not crazy. You were free of the paranoia which is infecting almost every community and poisoning almost every normal social interaction.
What are the odds of a rapist, kidnapper or serial killer driving up that road at just that time? That depends on what percentage of the male population of your community is one of the above, what their work and stalking schedules are, the traffic on the road at that time of day.... some pretty complex math. But most of the people, in most places, most of the time are sane and law-abiding, and many are also generous and well-intentioned.
Popular entertainments give us a very skewed impression of the world.
I've done some studying myself of people's reactions to random acts of kindness and selflessness and more often than not, the response is one of suspicion and outright fear. It seems the stars have to be perfectly aligned and a person has to be in dire straights before they'll take the risk of having faith in another person and believe they don't have a hidden agenda.
Many aren't being their best simply because others won't allow them to be.
Re: The dangers of strangers
Well, sure. We get propagandized by infotainment and entertainment. Those genres are supposed to be just for fun, maybe sell some sponsor product, but they actually change our perception of the world. We believe more make-believe than experience. That's what propaganda is supposed to do: replace your perception with someone else's assertion.