“The Yeti is compact, yet powerful, able to keep your must-have appliances going for hours in an emergency.”
“Patriot foods survival kits can last up to 25 years. Be ready for yourself and your family.”
“Federal judge overturns ban on large capacity gun magazines, saying ‘You wouldn’t want to run out of ammo before the bad guys do.’”
I like to scroll through Facebook now and again. I mostly do it to catch up on my friends that I haven’t seen in years, although to be fair some of the jokes and witticisms crack me up. (Why do folks pay to ride up in really tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to see what’s on the ground?)
Stuff like that I find funny.
But I’ve been noticing in my quest for news of my buddies that a whole bunch of ads like the ones in the beginning of this column are popping up more and more.
And it dawned on me a bit ago that we have an enormous industry here in America that caters to fear of, well, everything you can be afraid of in life.
I know what you’re thinking, Facebook can be a vast wasteland of useless stuff — folks slinging political barbs out into the electronic ether, people having an opinion on, well, everything you can think of, and dying to tell you why they’re right and you’re wrong, but it’s also a pretty accurate cross-section of what America is thinking at any given time.
And it seems like we think that it’s important we be afraid of, well, each other, strangers, power failures, and food shortages, just to name a few things.
(Okay, a small side note: There’s also a ton of YouTube videos showing manly men trekking off into the wilderness armed with only a hatchet to show you how to build a survival shelter in case of a catastrophe. What they never seem to explain is how their backpack is full of prepackaged steaks, fresh asparagus, lighters, frying pans, and olive oil. Maybe the end of the world has a gift shop.)
If we’re not careful, this kind of mentality is going to turn America into a country of folks afraid of their own shadows.
This, “YOU’VE GOT TO PROTECT YOURSELF!” mantra doesn’t happen anywhere else in the civilized world. It only seems to happen here in America.
I wonder where this comes from, this isolationist ideal that has crept into our culture.
Well, okay, 96% of Americans never actually go anywhere, so their view of the world is what they’re told, not what they’ve experienced. That’s right, I said 96% never leave the country (all-inclusive cruises and guided tours don’t count) and if you think that’s sad, 11% of Americans have never left their own state.
No wonder they have no idea that wandering around afraid of everything isn’t normal.
I’ve roamed the streets of other countries, usually late at night, and pretty much always felt safe.
Here? Not so much. Why? Because a lot of my fellow citizens are armed to the teeth and afraid of their own shadows.
You knock on a random door at night in Camden, UK or Innsbruck, Austria and you may wake someone up and get yelled at by the homeowner. Try that in downtown Chicago or New Orleans and you may end up looking like Swiss cheese.
I’m starting to think the tail is wagging the dog. Maybe we don’t have an industry devoted to our fears as much as we have our fears because of the industry.
Let me know what you’re thinking folks. It’ll make for a good followup.
Peace out.
Pete Mitchell’s “In America” column appears every other Monday. He lives in Geneva. Contact him at peteinamerica@yahoo.com.
IN AMERICA: Hey America, boo!
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13.11.2023
“The Yeti is compact, yet powerful, able to keep your must-have appliances going for hours in an emergency.”
“Patriot foods survival kits can last up to 25 years. Be ready for yourself and your family.”
“Federal judge overturns ban on large capacity gun magazines, saying ‘You wouldn’t want to run out of ammo before the bad guys do.’”
I like to scroll through Facebook now and again. I mostly do it to catch up on my friends that I haven’t seen in years, although to be fair some of the jokes and witticisms crack me up. (Why do folks pay to ride up in really tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to see what’s on the ground?)
Stuff like that I find funny.
But I’ve been noticing in my quest for news of my buddies that a whole bunch of ads like the ones in the beginning of this column are popping up more and more.
And it dawned on me a bit ago........
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