Fear as a defining American characterstic
A friend of mine from Toronto asked me earlier, “why do Americans live in gated communities?”
Good question. I live in one, for some value of gated (although it wasn’t when I moved here), although amusing enough the gates are almost always open because someone’s driven into them and broken the drive mechanism.
Whatever it be, we seem to be defined by our constant state of fear. Fear of terrorism, fear of disease, fear of crime, fear of … whatever. The TV stations blare the latest warnings and mindless prattle about how we’re all going to die because of some dangerous plastic toy.
Why is the most militaristic nation on the planet so populated by people afraid of the dark? Afraid of a 1:1,000,000 chance of salmonella from the egg? Everywhere I’ve traveled in the US, I see this, and yet when I leave the US, I never see it, even in countries who have much more to worry about than we do.
Nowhere else in the world do I see the disturbing propensity for everyone to use anti-bacterial everything 400 times a day to wash their hands (exaggerated, but you know what I mean). Why are we so messed up?
Thousands of nuclear weapons and we’re terrified of an egg.
This entry was posted at 5:04 pm on 25 April 2005 and is filed under Social. You can follow any responses to this entry through the post-specific RSS 2.0 feed.
In my area (Columbia, MD) I’ve yet to see any gated communities. I’ve seen them in two kinds of locales:
1) Urban areas, typically in high crime/high perceived crime areas
2) Areas where there’s a high level of transient population (the “snow bird” parts of Florida, for instance).
The fear you speak of doesn’t exist where I live, that’s for sure. Nor most of the places I travel, for that matter.
It’s less so in the DC area, honestly, because of the density of development, but if you go to the south (Atlanta through Texas) gated communities are becomming the norm. There was an interesting article on this in an architectural magazine, but I can’t find this.
The point is that if you ask the average American, they seem to be concerned about things that won’t effect them, but ignore the things that are really facing them.
They worry about terrorism in Idaho, but ignore all the other risks around them.
Those how are the most threadted with fear are those who thoughts that they have all the answers, the lack of mind race are will reveale a constant fear from the well known…
Are you sure you have your egg stats right? I read somewhere (I think “Fast Food Nation”) that 1/3 of American chickens are infected with salmonella because of poor industry practices. The rate is much lower in countries that make it a priority (e.g. in Europe) or in nations where they don’t do factory farming (most of the third world).
Anyhow, as someone who’s gotten salmonella poisoning twice (both from chicken meat, not the eggs), it’s definitely worth taking steps to avoid.
Well, it is a bit more complex than what I alluded to, however… the problem is in commercial egg use (i.e. IHOP), not home use. The chances of you getting salmonella from one (or 3) eggs is low, but in the situation of IHOP or others, they may have mixed hundreds (and thousands in commercial use) together, and if any one of those is infected, all of them are.
That’s why it’s not “uncommon” in commercial food prep, but almost completely unheard of in private.
Ah, great point. FWIW, both times, it was from dining out in places that apparently took Health Codes as suggestions.
It also sounds like the same dynamic as to why fast food restaurants’ ground beef is so sketchy — it includes the meat of hundreds (thousands?) of cows, any one of which might have a parasite.
Exactly. Compound risks. You are taking the risk that is equal (effectively) to the combined risk of all of the animals (or eggs). This is why I never eat hamburger meat below medium well when I’m out, but I eat it rare when I’m home.
That and I grind my own, which further reduces the risk, and more importantly, increases the flavor substantially.
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I must not fear
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass
Over me and through me.
And when it has gone past
I will turn the inner eye
To see its path.
Where the fear has gone
There will be nothing.
Only I will remain….