Quote Originally Posted by .Poppy. View Post
I think it's a more a matter of the pandemic being so divisive, at least over here (yes, I'm in the US), and it sharpened divides between people that were already there along with political differences. It sort of highlighted the difference between people who were more community minded (willing to take the recommended measures to protect others) and those who were hyper individualistic (people who thought they were healthy enough it would be just a cold for them, so they didn't care to follow recommendations) and there is a lot of resentment about that.

Also, I think the cost of living crisis is at play. It makes people restless and angry, and if they are hard up, maybe more likely to steal things.

But of course some it has always been happening, it's just that we're more aware of certain things. In some respects, things are safer now.

Rosanna, I do think radical acceptance is important. And maybe my perspective isn't the best, but I do think having things in place to make you feel safer is also important. I have a couple of cameras and sensors on exterior doors, and an alarm I set when I'm not home so that I can generally be alerted if something is amiss and try to deal with it.
I think you're correct in the sense of the pandemic being so divisive with certain elements of society using it to further fuel their existing agendas and prejudices, which I think has been the case pretty much the world over. And when times are harder some people do often have a bit of a tendency to be more irrational, and twas ever thus to a certain extent.

I remember it also happened with the second Iraq war in the mid 2000s, and then the (last) GFC at the end of said decade. Also here in the UK it was Brexit during the late 2010s and then of course (globally) the Covid pandemic in the early 2020s, and now into the mid 2020s it's the COL crisis, the Ukraine war and general political chaos on both sides of the Atlantic, with Trump constantly sticking the knife in Stateside during his time in opposition since the end of 2020 forever accusing Biden and Co of 'stealing' the vote (which he and his fellow cronies probably did in 2016 but denied it all) and us having gotten through 4 different sitting PMs here in the UK since 2019.

I also think you're correct in the sense that we're probably more aware of certain issues and hazards nowadays than ever before, as opposed to them actually being far greater than at any time in history. One issue in particular since the 90s has been (and still is) the perceived 'epidemic' of paedophilia, despite superior evidence that it's actually no worse now than at any time since records began, but the perception (and fear) of it seems to be much greater now than ever before, which has no doubt been unduly hyped up by the media on both sides of the Atlantic over the past 30-odd years or so, and many youngsters have sadly been robbed of their independence over the same period due to the overblown media frenzy (sometimes often in the name of profiteering) rather than the actual threat, which may sometimes in turn become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Also, contrary to popular belief, most people (of all ages) are usually attacked by people they already know (even including relatives) rather than at random by total strangers.