Communication

Information Literacy In The News: Fear

Fear. It’s such a common part of our days, we kind of take for granted that we are supposed to be afraid of all kinds of things.

Watching the news, getting updates on Facebooks, alerts on your phone – they are all filled with Scary Things! Be afraid!! All the time! What’s in that food! A politician said a thing! Something scary happened somewhere! Sharks are out there! Don’t talk to strangers! Barricade yourself in your home!!!!! THE WORLD IS ENDING!!!!!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottandjayne/28990973371
Hey, ducks are scary! Don’t judge….

So….yeah.

Except. This is all unnecessary. Most of us have very little to be afraid of in our daily lives.

We are living at one of the safest, most prosperous times in history. Things are not perfect, of course. (Libraries can keep working to make the world better!) But overall – this is the best time to be around!

If that sounds like some nuts-o statement – remember: News is stuff that is weird, outside the norm of what’s happening. That’s why it’s new. It’s interesting, and valuable; but if something is “news” then it’s not what usually happens. “News” means “things you probably don’t need to fear because they are unusual.”

I’m not the only one to notice that we are safe and prosperous. Lots. Of. People. Know.This.Idea.

Don’t be afraid of the ocean because of sharks – they don’t really want to eat you. Don’t be afraid to go outside – sunshine provides important health benefits. Don’t be afraid to talk to a stranger – they are probably just as nice as you are.

But of course, there are very reasonable fears. There are actual problems. Perspective is good though, so below you can find a bouquet of real fears and a little info to go with it. So let’s get some information literacy on this subject – let’s learn some facts that can help us to make good decisions based on good information.

Remember: Keep perspective! Don’t let fear run your day, or your life! Drop off all those foolish fears, and maybe give some thoughts to realistic fears.

At the very least – this will give you some interesting books to read! And, maybe you can develop a fun new, more realistic phobia! (No, please don’t do that!)

Note: the book links below take you to Amazon.com, where all the book descriptions come from. If you click on a link and then buy anything at Amazon, we get a teeny percent of their profits. Thanks!!! That money means a lot to us!

Cars

Cars are convenient and useful in a lot of ways. But they are a top cause of death for us, their pollution spews out for everyone to breath, and they require a lot of cost in infrastructure and space in roads, road repair, parking lots, and parking garages.

“Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the U.S.1, with over 100 people dying every day. 2 More than 2.5 million drivers and passengers were treated in emergency departments as the result of being injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2015.1 The economic impact is also notable: in a one-year period, the cost of medical care and productivity losses associated with occupant injuries and deaths from motor vehicle traffic crashes exceeded $63 billion.” (from the CDC)

Try to get out and walk when you can – it’s good for your physical and mental health, reduces the pollution in the air you and your neighbors breath, and you reduce the damage to roads nearby. Do you live in a community that wants to force you into a car, even for quick trips, by denying you sidewalks? Feel free to notify your elected officials that encouraging walking is good for the community. Sure – your individual contribution to the issues isn’t huge, but it helps the community and it helps you individually.


Income Inequality

The massive inequality in income in our country is not just a matter of simple fairness – it’s a step in the toppling of countries throughout history. If money is staying with just a teeny number of people, then it’s not available to make an overall society stronger. So, just one small example of the problem: Glance over those pothole-ridden streets you can see everywhere, and try not to worry about the safety of the bridges you drive over every day – and wonder what could happen if the mega-wealthy humans and corporations paid taxes to be part of the community.

Not sure what to think? Read through a few sources to get ideas you can use to understand the problem.

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

“Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshal extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today…”

” $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America , by Kathryn Edin and H. Luke Shaefer

“After two decades of brilliant research on American poverty, Kathryn Edin noticed something she hadn’t seen before — households surviving on virtually no cash income. Edin teamed with Luke Shaefer, an expert on calculating incomes of the poor, to discover that the number of American families living on $2.00 per person, per day, has skyrocketed to one and a half million households, including about three million children. “

The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die, by Keith Payne

” The levels of inequality in the world today are on a scale that have not been seen in our lifetimes, yet the disparity between rich and poor has ramifications that extend far beyond mere financial means. In The Broken Ladder psychologist Keith Payne examines how inequality divides us not just economically; it also has profound consequences for how we think, how we respond to stress, how our immune systems function, and even how we view moral concepts such as justice and fairness. “

Ticks

This is an increasingly scary problem – and something you should take seriously. (I love Permethrin; spray it on your clothes, shoes, hats, backpacks – and keep ticks away.) Here are just a few tick-related diseases, and this list keeps growing:

Antibiotic Resistance

Most of us have no memory of what people throughout history had to face. Small cuts can mean death. Illnesses that we can handle easily now wiped out millions of people. A burst appendix meant death for too many people. We are running out of antibiotics that can kill off dangerous bacteria – and there is not enough financial incentive for drug companies to develop new ones.

Read through a few resources here:

Japanese Knotweed

I had no idea this was even a fear I should have! But now that I know about it, I’ve nervously walked around my backyard while casting eyes toward my neighbors, to see if any of us have this invasive, destructive weed.

From the Minnesota Department of Agriculture: “Japanese knotweed forms tall, dense thickets that shade out and displace native vegetation, degrade habitat for fish and wildlife, can alter waterways, and facilitate erosion and flooding. Knotweed growth through pavement cracks and along paved surface edges can result in damaged pavement.”

Rising Oceans

Insurance companies know it. Cities, states, and small countries heading for the future know it. People living near the coastlines know it. Water levels are rising, and infrastructure is being affected.