I’m on an email list that has quite a bit of traffic… it is mostly focused on design related topics, but occasionally will stray a bit… Today, one of the members posted this, which was a forwarded email he got from someone else:

“My mom (who works at the Metro Nashville Juvenile DA’s office) called and said they have received “credible” information from their Gang prevention unit that there is about to be a major surge in gang initiations over the next few weeks. These initiations involve random shootings that are required to “make it” into the gang. They are especially going to be targeting women and unsuspecting people out in shopping mall parking lots. They are supposedly going to be coming up and asking for directions. They are urging everyone to be VERY VERY cautious and VERY aware of your surroundings. Which I know we all should be anyway, but one more warning sure can’t hurt. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!”

Now, beyond the fact that this is obviously a hoax (confirmed here), isn’t everyone tired of this sort of fear mongering?

What-ever truth or hoax is found here, I refuse to live my life in fear of this sort of thing. Be it terrorists, snipers, gang members, or other idiots at large… I’m going to continue to live with optimistic caution regardless of the truth of the matter, or how ’safe’ it is. It is ridiculous that we have allowed the F.U.D. (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) of the world to train us in the way that we treat one another, instead of following our values. We allow this sort of thing to dictate way too much of what we do and who we are, and we forget that we are all a part of a larger community and family.

we don’t give $ to homeless because we’re afraid that they will spend it unwisely
we don’t give directions to the lost because we’re afraid that they will rob us or worse
we don’t help the guy on the side of the road with a flat because we’re afraid we’ll be mugged or worse
we don’t say hello or make eye contact with strangers because we’re afraid we will be interrupted
we don’t discipline our kids because we’re afraid we’ll lose them to DCS
we don’t pray in schools because we’re afraid of being sued by the ACLU

Where do we get all of this stuff from?

In Israel, people are aware of a much higher probability of something devastating happening while they are in a public space. They live their lives anyhow, continuing to go to movies, malls, and coffee shops. They don’t allow the F.U.D. to dictate how they live.

It is not a matter of ‘if we don’t do this, they will win’… it is not even a matter of win or lose. it is a matter of keeping hold of the humanity that is in all of us.

i’ve been online for almost 20 years now, and have seen a lot of this sort of stuff come across the horizon of every one of the monitors i’ve owned (or borrowed) in the last 20 years. so yeah… i am a bit skeptical about anything i read 3rd party online, and especially of anything that has to inflate it’s credibility with a statement that contains the phrase ‘credible source’. i put that in the same box with emails that come addressed to me from foreign dignitaries wanting me to cash checks for them, canadian lotteries i’ve never entered, and people who think they know what would really make my wife happy.

beyond email hoaxes and F.U.D. the talking heads in the media spend way too much time casting fear like chum into the waters of malnourished sharks, and boy are we hungry for it.

A few days ago while I was coming out of the bank, there was an elderly man in the parking lot, the hood to his pickup open, banging on his battery with a wrench. I asked him if he needed a jump, a ride somewhere, or if he needed to use my phone to call someone … and he completely ignored me. After awhile of trying to talk with him, I realized that he had most likely suffered a stroke at some point in his life, and was probably afraid of me. He eventually pulled his own phone out of the glove box of his truck and made a phone call to have someone come get him. Rather than agitate him further, I left.

if we allow ourselves to be brainwashed into thinking that our enemy could be the man asking for directions, the guy on the street corner asking for $, the guy on the side of the road with a flat tire, the neighbor who comes by late at night to borrow bread, or even the person offering a helping hand to us when we need it… what we’ve all lost is so much more valuable than what I am willing to give, and no amount of 20/20 specials and CNN reports are going to take it from me.