|
marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
 Posted - 09/15/2011 : 06:39:24
|
This isn't a new issue, but I've never noticed it brought up here, so I thought I'd post a link to the latest from Free Range Kids about Why It Feels Like Kids Are Being Kidnapped All The Time. I remember Penn and Teller doing an episode of Bullshit called "Stranger Danger" about this that was pretty good.
| The point here is the difference in media coverage. Day after day, the front page of our local paper was about this missing boy. It makes it seem like the problem is bigger than it is. Conversely, my local paper gives only a paragraph every day or so to those hurt or killed in a car accident – because it happens so often that it has become common! |
Recently a friend of mine with a daughter the same age as mine told me that she avoids calling her daughter by her first name in public places such as a RiteAid. I looked at her confused and asked why. She expressed concern that potential kidnappers might use that information at some point to lure the child. In polite terms I pointed out how incredibly unlikely it is to have your child kidnapped by a totally random stranger (most kids are kidnapped by people they know) and that the few random strangers out there who abduct kids probably don't do so based on just knowing the kid's first name. She defended her paranoia, and her mom backed it up claiming that when she was 6 years old a total stranger had attempted to abduct her (because the 40+-year-old memory and interpretation of an event by a 6 year old is oh so reliable!)
I have never worried about someone abducting my kid. Conversely, I gotta say, just about every time I drive somewhere in a car at some point I consider the danger of what I'm doing, and because of that awareness I try to take it more seriously and drive more carefully. I also avoid driving my daughter around when I can because I know the leading cause of infant and toddler deaths are car accidents. But then I'm a skeptic.
Editing to add: I just realized that same friend who is paranoid about strangers abducting her kid went on a long road trip last year with her toddler and many times took her infant out of the car seat for extended periods of time while driving on the highway because the child was upset and uncomfortable. Yeeeeah.
|
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
|
Edited by - marfknox on 09/15/2011 06:43:19
|
|
Paranoia about child abduction by total strangers
