• Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
    87·
    1 month ago

    Do you know what else terrorists use all over the world? Cars! How long will we allow these dangerous contraptions to be freely available?

  • Vespair@lemm.eeEnglish
    41·
    1 month 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.

    • BreadstickNinja@lemmy.worldEnglish
      22·
      1 month 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.

    • Toneswirly@lemmy.world
      111·
      1 month 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.

    • JcbAzPx@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      1 month ago

      There were people who went out and 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
      8·
      1 month 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.

    • gon [he]@lemm.eeEnglish
      21·
      1 month ago

      Maybe, but I think there’s something much more insidious going on here than a random person with weird delusions. I think this is a symptom of the panic narrative that’s being boosted all over the world by far-right parties and candidates, social media, and incompetent - or at least misguided - news networks.

      If you keep hearing about how the big evil is all around you - it’s your neighbors that looks different, your colleagues with a weird accent - and that that evil is coming to get you sooner rather than later, then when you see something that looks different than usual, what are you gonna think it is? The big evil you’ve been hearing so much about, of course.

      This time, it’s some old lady thinking paragliders are Hamas, but many times it’s some other people saying “the gays” are trying to spread communism and infect the children.

  • Ghosthacked@lemm.eeEnglish
    4·
    1 month ago

    These are the same types of idiots that think they’re going to be targets of a terror attack in some small backwater town.

    These types of propaganda methods really resonate with boomer types.

    I remember someone that thought that they were going to be mailed anthrax back when they had the anthrax scare in the US.

    1. How much anthrax do you think terrorists have that they could afford to mail it to you, a random person in the US?

    2. Why do you think you’re so important that you’re going to be targeted?

    You need to either be clueless or really full of yourself to think these scenarios apply to you.

    The only time you’re possibly going to be caught up in something is if you’re going to an important or significant place, or you’re interacting with people much more important than you are.