Living in Fear

[TheJefe817]

I read a recent article and I wanted to poll everyone and start a discussion that's probably been had elsewhere.

The context was simple. Being African American includes, in part, living in fear of the cops. It was used to explain why innocent people run from the cops. It got me thinking about living in fear. Do you, whatever your demographic, live in fear for your life. What is it and why. This could include the recent topics of .. am I safe in America because of X,Y,Z.. Does anything trigger that fear in your day-to-day routine and does it change your actions?

I have been thinking a good deal about fear lately, not just the physical, tangible fear which seems to be the main topic here.  Pardon me if I go tangential to that.  Specifically, I have been feeling far less fearful, anxious and guilty (among other things) since I finally admitted I found Christianity unconvincing.  I think a big corollary to that was realizing the reason that my mother has seemed so unhappy at many times throughout my life - that she lives in fear.  Corrolation is not causality, but when I trace back the unhappy and fearful thoughts she expresses, they tend to converge on her faith and some element of that which she applies to the situation at hand.  I can't help but think that had she jettisoned all of it earlier in life in favor of getting the counseling she probably needed all along, she would be much happier today.

[Jehanne]

I remember growing-up in the 80s watching the World News with Peter Jennings, who regularly talked about the violence in North Ireland.  Seems that with the rise of secular atheism in Ireland that fewer and fewer individuals there give a shit about religion.

It was as much a political fight as a religious one. The biggest change was when the Royal Ulster Constabulary became the Northern Ireland Police Force and (mostly) abandoned their policy of shitting on people with Irish surnames.

Boru

Are you a Protestant atheist or a Catholic atheist?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

It was as much a political fight as a religious one. The biggest change was when the Royal Ulster Constabulary became the Northern Ireland Police Force and (mostly) abandoned their policy of shitting on people with Irish surnames.

Boru

Are you a Protestant atheist or a Catholic atheist?

Catholic atheist.

Boru

[tackattack]

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In NI what was the fear of, terrorist bombers, potato farmers, getting clogged to death...?

@Fireball ok so fearless... got it.


Thanks for the responses so far from everyone btw.

3500 killed, 48 000 injured. I’m glad you find the 50 000+ casualties of the Troubles a source for humour.

Boru

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I do not find death humorous. You never stated why you were in constant fear in NI and I didn't want to assume. I did attempt to feign some levity to provoke an answer though. I apologize if you were offended, it wasn't my intent. To recap when you were in NI you were constantly in fear ethno-political retaliation based on your geographic proximity to a specific conflict. That's very reasonable.

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I read a recent article and I wanted to poll everyone and start a discussion that's probably been had elsewhere.

The context was simple. Being African American includes, in part, living in fear of the cops. It was used to explain why innocent people run from the cops. It got me thinking about living in fear. Do you, whatever your demographic, live in fear for your life. What is it and why. This could include the recent topics of .. am I safe in America because of X,Y,Z.. Does anything trigger that fear in your day-to-day routine and does it change your actions?

I have been thinking a good deal about fear lately, not just the physical, tangible fear which seems to be the main topic here.  Pardon me if I go tangential to that.  Specifically, I have been feeling far less fearful, anxious and guilty (among other things) since I finally admitted I found Christianity unconvincing.  I think a big corollary to that was realizing the reason that my mother has seemed so unhappy at many times throughout my life - that she lives in fear.  Corrolation is not causality, but when I trace back the unhappy and fearful thoughts she expresses, they tend to converge on her faith and some element of that which she applies to the situation at hand.  I can't help but think that had she jettisoned all of it earlier in life in favor of getting the counseling she probably needed all along, she would be much happier today.

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All civil discussion is good discussion. There has historically been a ton of fear used is religion so it's a very pertinent topic. Did you feel fear of damnation when you were a believer?

[TheJefe817]

[quote pid='2108901' dateline='1657573414']
All civil discussion is good discussion. There has historically been a ton of fear used is religion so it's a very pertinent topic. Did you feel fear of damnation when you were a believer?
[/quote]

Not so much.  My particular denomination did not really play up the hellfire too much.  I got a lot of that when I would visit other chiurches with my friends, and my daughter got a lot of it from her grandparents (not my parents).  That part hasn't really changed, but shifted.  My fears were more based on disappointing a god, or really more specifically those who follow him, I think.

[arewethereyet]

Since I really just followed along with religion I didn't have any fear based on that.

Overall I have been pretty fearless otherwise. I am just more cautious now with where I go and when. I'm older and people are crazier.

The only fear I lived with on the regular was abuse from mom and dad. The last beating I took from dad was in front of two of my kids. Things in the house where I grew up were a lot more dangerous than anything outside those four walls.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

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3500 killed, 48 000 injured. I’m glad you find the 50 000+ casualties of the Troubles a source for humour.

Boru

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I do not find death humorous. You never stated why you were in constant fear in NI and I didn't want to assume. I did attempt to feign some levity to provoke an answer though. I apologize if you were offended, it wasn't my intent. To recap when you were in NI you were constantly in fear ethno-political retaliation based on your geographic proximity to a specific conflict. That's very reasonable.

I don’t need to be ‘provoked’ into answering you. Since you know to what conflict I was referring, you could have simply said that and not made poor taste jokes about potato farmers and clog dancing.

And you can shove ‘levity’ straight up your arse.

Boru

[Angrboda]

Not leaving the house helps.

Seriously though, the most frequent times I experience fear are at certain major light rail stations where ne'er-do-wells and homeless people regularly congregate. I come home from Maplewood twice a week, often transferring at the light-rail station in St. Paul and things can be rather unpredictable there. Luckily I'm not donating Saturdays anymore because every Saturday night, large groups of rowdy people would congregate there, just looking for trouble.

[The Valkyrie]

When I lived in Northern Ireland, the notion that any time I walked out might be my last was ever-present, but I’m not sure if it counts as being in fear for my life (fatalism runs deep in NI). I got over that feeling after a few years in New Zealand - people here just don’t seem particularly interested in killing each other.

As far as fear of cops goes, that also changed when we emigrated. I was reared in the tradition that cops were to be hated as well as feared. Now, not so much.

Boru

Ummmm...

[Pat Mustard]

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3500 killed, 48 000 injured. I’m glad you find the 50 000+ casualties of the Troubles a source for humour.

Boru

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I do not find death humorous.

This said right after you made a tasteless "joke" about the Troubles. No wonder I find interacting with you so distasteful.