Television and Internet Induced Paranoia.

Overall crime rates in the USA have decreased to pre-1970 levels. Overall crime seems to have peaked in the early to mid-90's.

Murder rates are as low as they were in 1963. Violent crimes the lowest since 1973. Robbery? 1974. Vehicle theft as low as they've been since 1963. Burglary, 1965! (see the FBI's UCR data).

So what the fuck gives with the American Public? We're starting this decade with the lowest crime rates in 30 years, and everyone is tripping and paranoid. We're much safer walking down the street than we were in the 1980's, 1990's, and 2000's.

We demonstrate all these irrational fears. We stay locked up in our houses, rarely venturing outside after dark, not trusting strangers. Read the comments on any news story. Paranoia abounds. What is the root cause of all this paranoia?

And I mean paranoia as in anxiety, phobias, and feeling threatened when there is no threat present.

Okay folks, I'm going to introduce you to my theory on what the problem is. Television Induced Paranoia. No, actually, I take that back, its not just television, its the internet as well. I'll revise that into Television and Internet Induced Paranoia.

We live in the age of Lifetime Movies (aka paranoia for women channel), and reality television shows like Cops and Intervention. Cable television hit shows? Dexter, Breaking Bad, Oz. Tru TV/Court TV, Lifetime. Chris Hansen's "To Catch a Predator" on Dateline (ironically, tied to internet useage), America's Most Wanted, the list goes on and on. Sensationalism to the nth degree.

People start blurring the line between entertainment and reality, and start actually believing that shit they see on TV is happening constantly all around them.

We're barraged with information from websites and the news about all the fucking AWFUL things that happen to people. Home invasions, murders, rapes, incest, amber alerts, car accidents. There is a term for this in the english language, it is called yellow journalism. If you think the news doesn't sensationalism or distort the facts you are dead wrong.

Television is your mind control. Turn it off. Turn off your computer. Go outside and take a walk, remember it's safer now than its been in 30 years. And crime statistics show you're more likely to have violent crime to occur in your home anyways. You're safer outside in general anyways. So call your friends, get the fuck outta the house, and go do something fun. Get over it, stop being so paranoid.

I'm not saying go outside and be an idiot. Stick to brightly lit streets at night, don't accept rides from people you don't know, educate yourself and your family about how not to attract attention, stay away from high risk areas, and lock your doors. But all that stuff is just common sense and was as true in 1911 as it is in 2011.

All I'm trying to say is that all the crap we see on TV is poisoning our minds and playing a part into turning us into socially handicapped anxious retards. That is of course, what the journalists want. A famous Joseph Medill Patterson quote was, "murders sells newspapers." Just remember, every news source is in business to sell you something.