For example, think of how many people that you know who are afraid of flying (to whatever extent). Why? because they are afraid of dying in a crash, usually. Yet they tend to drive everywhere...even though the chances of dying in any single airline trip are 52.6 million to 1, but the chances of dying in any single car trip are 7.6 million to 1. regardless of the fact that you have control over your car, but not your plane, you are seven-and=-a-half times MORE likely to die on the road. And that doesn't take into effect being a passenger in the car, where you don't have control of the car, either...but we still do it, without a second thought.
Why is this? because when the news shows a plane crash, X number of people have died. Planes don't crash much, so it's an event worth showing on the news when it burns up a bunch of folks. Crashed cars happen all the time, every day, and thus are not newsworthy...so you see the plane crashes, not the cars. You get the fear, and you forget logic.
Sad, really. For all our evolution, we still jump at shadows, without bothering to find out what they are. By the way, this was brought on by this post in
wtf_inc today, which links to a video clip of a carnival ride breaking while people (kids) are on it. The poster introduces the clip by saying that this is a perfect example of why she won't let her children ride those things...as if this sort of thing is the norm. Just as bad are the comments below, saying how this confirms one person's fears, and how another one is never riding one again. How often has anyone seen this happen? 99% of the time, once: this clip. Yet, it's enough to somehow overshadow all the millions of times they have worked just fine.Do yourself a favour. Don't be a slave to fear. (In the end, that's where I'm going with this. Fear is just one more obstacle in your life, and like any obstacle, it can be beaten, or it beats you.)