Shot in her own home!

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Pretty sure that's 'phobia'.  But what of it?  Even if it's out of control and completely irrational, a phobia is still a real fear.

I've mentioned this before:  I'm terrified of horses.  There's no reason for it - I've never been bitten by a horse, never been kicked by a horse, never fallen off a horse (because I've never been on one).  A horse in my field of vision makes me edgy, even if it's a half mile away in a field on the other side of a fence.  If there's nothing between me and a horse, I get cold sweats and shortness of breath.  I feel about horses precisely the way an arachnophobe feels about spiders or acrophobe feels about heights.  The fact that I know it's an irrational fear, all out of proportion to the danger posed by horses, doesn't make the fear any less real.

I imagine it's the same with cops.

Boru

Irrational fears are in the brain, and a problem for the person having them. Those poor horses don't care about you.

All fears are in the brain.  That's where emotions come from.

And horses do care about me.  They're plotting my demise.  I can feel it.

Boru

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Okay, you're one of the problems then.

Rational people who understand the relative dangers and the issues involved, not so much.

[arewethereyet]

If cars start barging into apartments or flying through windows the fear factor will increase.

We all expect risk when on the road in a vehicle.

There is a crossroad up the road and the guy who lives on the house on the corner could tell you about that. It used to be a gas station (in the 1960's) and it's been hit four times that I can remember..... It's about 25 feet from the intersection with a thru highway....

Poor Dale (old guy who lives there) has his asshole pucker up everytime tires squeal on the TV. (so he says) He was inside during two of the wrecks.

The neighbors who lived across from us when I was a kid got a rude awakening late one night.  Their house was  set back a bit from the road but Denny from up the street apparently was gaining speed on his way down the hill to get drunker at one of the bars.  He drove up over the curb and sidewalk, through their front yard, and into their grown daughter's bedroom - where she was sleeping.  The road was straight as an arrow.  Had he veered off a little later he'd have ended up either hitting the bridge or in the creek.

So, yeah...it happens.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

There's a 90 degree left about a mile from a local bar. The house on the corner had five insurance claims in seven years from drunks missing the turn. Finally the homeowner bought a rock. It's nine feet high and has random scratches on it from cars hitting the proverbial immovable object. The cars take out two guard rails to get to the rock.

[EgoDeath]

It's an internet furor.

---

Give us the number of people who are killed by the police for no good reason, please. Number per year. Remember that my number was "for all reasons", meaning your number will be a subset of mine. Minimalist can't post one such item per days as dearly as he would like to.

I don't have that number, but I'm sure it's very, very low. 

But on those rare occasions when it happens, it gets tremendous amounts of news coverage, which can cause people to be fearful of the cops.  Whether that fear is justified or not, it's a REAL fear.

For whatever it's worth, I'm definitely not in Minimalist's 'Fucking Cops' camp.  I don't think the average officer starts his shift think, 'I sure hope I get to shoot someone today.'

Boru

Lol. Spoken like someone who isn't from America.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Okay, you're one of the problems then.

Rational people who understand the relative dangers and the issues involved, not so much.

All I'm saying is that irrational fears are still real fears.  No justified, not based on facts or relative dangers, but real.  People tend more towards emotionalism than towards rationality.

Boru

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I don't have that number, but I'm sure it's very, very low. 

But on those rare occasions when it happens, it gets tremendous amounts of news coverage, which can cause people to be fearful of the cops.  Whether that fear is justified or not, it's a REAL fear.

For whatever it's worth, I'm definitely not in Minimalist's 'Fucking Cops' camp.  I don't think the average officer starts his shift think, 'I sure hope I get to shoot someone today.'

Boru

Lol. Spoken like someone who isn't from America.

Thank you.  I like it when I speak like someone who isn't from America.  Makes me all warm and fuzzy.

Boru

[EgoDeath]

Why..?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I don't have that number, but I'm sure it's very, very low. 

But on those rare occasions when it happens, it gets tremendous amounts of news coverage, which can cause people to be fearful of the cops.  Whether that fear is justified or not, it's a REAL fear.

For whatever it's worth, I'm definitely not in Minimalist's 'Fucking Cops' camp.  I don't think the average officer starts his shift think, 'I sure hope I get to shoot someone today.'

Boru

Lol. Spoken like someone who isn't from America.

I'm from America, I've never been killed by a cop. Have you?

[arewethereyet]

Okay, you're one of the problems then.

Rational people who understand the relative dangers and the issues involved, not so much.

All I'm saying is that irrational fears are still real fears.  No justified, not based on facts or relative dangers, but real.  People tend more towards emotionalism than towards rationality.

Boru

My son and husband scream like little girls when they see a spider.  It's a good thing I am not afraid or we'd be overrun with them.  

But if someone needs to climb a ladder - I'm not it.