• Vespair@lemm.ee
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    3 days ago

    Real talk, we have to figure out how to handle this kind of chronic fear and paranoia, because this shit ain’t normal, but it is frighteningly common.

    Like yeah this is a hilariously over-the-top example, but the amount of people you and I both know who go through life genuinely thinking that they’re going to be the victim of a kidnapping or worse at any given time is astounding. And it’s not without impact either, because this is exactly the unfounded sense of fear that conservatives/fascists seize on to manipulate the population.

    I don’t know the solution, but a world where everyone is afraid of their own shadow is a literal hellscape.

    • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      There were people who went out an shot at water towers during the radio airing of War of the World’s. Floridians will routinely try to make hurricanes go away by shooting at them. Police get hundreds of calls about Venus every year.

      There’s no fixing this type of stupid. All we can hope for is to keep it from spreading too far.

    • MithranArkanere@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      The way to handle it is to find the “The Architects of Fear”, getting rid of them, and making sure no new ones take their place.

      • iii@mander.xyz
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        2 days ago

        I don’t think you’ll ever be able to get fully rid of religion and terrorists

    • Toneswirly@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      The solution is multi-factorial and will take a generation to implement. Expand the social safety net, expand public education to encompass critical thinking skills and researching skills, restrict private media monopolies that hold public consciousness in a deathgrip.

    • BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      If I were a betting man, I’d wager this woman spends a lot of time scrolling through right-wing posts on Facebook about the “invasion” of Britain. A Brexit type, if you will.

      That’s just speculation in this specific case, but the amount of fear-mongering right-wing content on social media is absolutely a contributor to this kind of worldview more broadly.