The Consequences of Fear
The Consequences of Fear
December 18, 2012 by Taylor Studios
A high school colleague posted this on Facebook over the weekend:
“Remember there is a two century long science of crime. A couple of indisputable facts: 1. Kids are safest at school than anywhere else. Child victimization peaks right after school and on weekend nights. 2. Kids are most likely to be emotionally, physically, or sexually hurt by family members than school violence. 3. Child abductions are mostly committed by non-custodial parents. Stranger abductions are mostly committed against 11-14 year olds. 4. Crime has gone down for two decades. It appears higher and more gruesome because of sensationalistic and saturated media coverage. 5. People are more likely to be killed, sickened, or hurt because of their employer’s violations of worker safety and environmental laws.” – Dave Kauzlarich Check out Dave’s books: and .
His post is a great thought provoker. What does it bring to mind for you?
I often reference the book by Richard Louv. He describes our fear of crime as The Bogeyman Syndrome. Be careful of the media excitability. He postulates that fear can actually make our children less safe. Along with many other bad side effects, like less self-confidence, lacking an ability to build real community and lack of freedom. Because of this new heightened sense of fear even nature has become the bogeyman to many parents.
Man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too. – Luther Standing Bear (1868-1930)
As an employer, I also could not help but notice #5. Employers are the minority and I believe often portrayed as the villain. From my standpoint, of course, I want my employees to be safe. However, meeting, understanding and affording all OSHA regulations is more than formidable. Should employers be held accountable if employees don’t follow the standards that are in place at companies? Yes, holding employees accountable is part of the role of a company. Yet, getting them to always wear the safety equipment and follow all safety protocol is not an easy feat. Should an employer be held accountable when employees use poor judgment?
As we talk about fear, I sure have one of OSHA and other government entities. Usually, courts side with employees. Plus the cost of fighting it or the bad publicity it might cause is often not worth it for a small business to tackle even if they did everything right. The government has endless time and cash that small businesses don’t have. Do you want to scare entrepreneurs out of business?
I can’t imagine the pain the families of the Newtown tragedy are going though. Our hearts go out to them.