Scott Tibbs
Safety, risk and an "all or nothing" mentality
By Scott Tibbs, October 6, 2023
All of life is risk. Every single thing you do carries some risk: Even walking down the sidewalk can be dangerous if a drunk driver jumps the curb and runs over you. We cannot eliminate all risk from our lives, and we should not try. Without risk, we cannot live our lives or accomplish anything of value. We need to be willing to accept reasonable risk, both as individuals and as a society.
But some of the mockery of safety enhancements we see online is a bit silly. The most common is "I survived" memes, listing things common in past generations that have been eliminated today. Some practices of the past should remain, and we are not wiser than our forefathers. But just because you "survived" all of these things does not mean it is not good to get rid of some of them.
Many children and adults have died or been seriously injured from not wearing seat belts. Whether it should be mandatory for adults to wear seat belts is debatable, but there is little doubt that you are safer wearing one. People have died or been brain-damaged by not wearing helmets on motorcycles or even bicycles. Lead paint has been documented to cause damage to the brain and nervous system, which is why it is no longer allowed and why many buildings and older homes have had their paint replaced.
We are overly obsessed with "safety" in this country. That is true. We have seen how dangerous - and deadly - our obsession with safety has become. Lockdowns to "slow the spread" of COVID-19 led to increases in alcoholism, depression, suicide and drug overdoses. Helicopter parenting steals a child's independence and ability to grow and develop. Pretending that free speech is a threat to "safety" leads to violence and even bloody street battles. But that doesn't mean that every improvement in safety is bad. Yes, sometimes a meme is just a meme, but we do not need to develop an "all or nothing" mentality.
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