To be genuinely scared of the world we live in

[pinklite]

Apologies if there has already been a similar thread today but just wanted to air my feelings.

Today's attack in Southport is just horrific and keeps playing on my mind. A very similar incident occurred in my home town a few years ago on a park where a little girl was stabbed and killed.

I'm genuinely scared for my two young sons to grow up in this world where there are complete maniacs who want to harm young children. I'm a naturally anxious person anyway and have been since childhood, so anytime we go anywhere I'm on high alert of the people around us and our surroundings.

I know we can't live in fear, but how can we not when things like this seem to be a regular occurrence?

Random vicious attacks targeting children aren't new. Ever heard the phrase "Sweet Fanny Adams"? This is what happened to Fanny Adams. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Adams

That might need a content warning. I think I remember that one.

I know that violence can happen to anyone, but - given the overwhelming percentage of males committing the violence and the rise of shitheads like Tate - the question is how do we raise our boys to behave without violence and anger. (And I have both sons and now grandsons). In Australia recently there was mass stabbing that targeted only women. This appears to present in the same way. Those poor little ones and all their families 🩷

I think the "random vicious attack" part might cover it.

I think the "random vicious attack" part might cover it.

Oh yeah.

I need to read properly. Or sleep.

No, I get why you said it, it was a particularly horrible case. I guess it was notorious for a reason. But I felt that going into any more detail on the thread would've been inappropriate — and the Wikipedia summary gives enough info to get a feel of what you're getting into, but without all the detail you get further into the article.

How are you feeling @pinklite? Hope you got some rest. Thinking of you.

was about to post something similar. Nowadays, we know the news instantly, due to the internet etc. in the past, we’d only hear it on the news, or read it in newspapers.

It’s called bigger picture thinking. I’m trying to help someone with anxiety. I’ve worked through this stuff in my own life because I lost a sibling as a young teen to what is now a vaccine preventable virus.

We still live in a very safe country. The events of yesterday are horrific and absolutely tragic. But the reason it’s so shocking is because it’s so very rare. Mass violent crimes against children - there have only been 3 events in my lifetime that I remember in the U.K. Yesterday, Manchester, and Dunblane.

That said, I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about these poor kids.

I think the difference from my youth is that there seem to be alot more mentally ill people wandering around. There used to be mental hospitals but the government decided to close them down to save money. We also seem to be importing mentally traumatised people from Africa/Middle East. I don't remember all these random knife attacks when I was young in the 80s (conversely there seemed to be more murders of young women just getting the train home etc).

‘ This world try the U.K. this is not happening in many other places. It is disgraceful ‘

Pretty much exactly the same thing happened in the last two years in Annecy (France) and in Dublin.

I don't understand what would possess someone to stab and murder someone. I legitimately don't. I'd understand deep poverty and wanting to mug people. But why would you stab children?

My mum was at school with two people who were murdered in horrendous circumstances. One was a victim of Fred West, the other was decapitated in a quiet street. There have always been terrible tragedies. There always will be.

I took my granddaughter to a holiday club this morning.

It's going to be a long day until I can go and pick her up.

I can't stop worrying.

You can't live like that, it's not healthy and it will affect your kids wellbeing. The incident in Southport is sad but it is so so rare. And there are far bigger risks you probably take every day, like driving a car. you need to stop watching the news if it worries you, and honestly I'd consider getting some therapy.

To be fair, this is actually a very safe time to be living it. Murder rates in rural England during the middle ages were similar to those in the worst inner city areas on the planet today. Criminals are more likely to be caught than ever before - I genuinely can't remember a traditional serial killer news story since the Yorkshire Ripper (one where the offender is known to be at large but their identity is unknown, I don't count someone like Lucy Letby as a "classic" serial killer because people weren't aware she was doing it until she wasn't).

I think there's probably more "random" killing these days where there is no particular motive other than wanting to kill, the victims being found largely by chance. That's certainly a concern, in the past people selected targets for a particular reason like wanting to rob them or a dispute with neighbours that got out of hand.

It IS shocking because it is not the world we live in.

This is extremely rare.

Are women safer now than they were even 10 years ago. All this incel stuff has made some very hateful contexts for women. The hatred appears to be also about being over 30 not being pretty enough, being too independent. Hopefully, some balance will be the norm again.

Mental illness.

Exactly this. It’s heartbreaking and I feel the same as the OP.

The world is no different than it has ever been. In fact, it's considerably better..... 200 years ago, there was a very high chance that your children would die in infancy from some (now eradicated or controlled) disease.

Worrying about something that will probably never happen is completely pointless. Just live your life....what will be, will be.

I feel the same OP, it's just shocking and so scary. I'm not an anxious person generally but I live rurally and am rarely in big town/cities or crowded places. I used to find it very exciting, now I can't help feeling anxious whenever I'm in a crowded place. Even children's concerts/pantomimes etc I find myself looking to see where my nearest exit is and wondering how I would get out quickly.

Just because you feel it's a huge step backwards doesn't mean that it is.

We've been fortunate to have peace for the the last 80 years or so, but have managed to use it to create amongst other things an unsustainable amount of luxury distractions for ourselves which is out of control and can't continue.

We have no right to live like this at the expense of others on the planet, and the planet itself, so it's not surprising that thing are arising to tear down our way of life.

Nature is a cycle of destruction and recreation, it's not just an ever evolving upward line on a graph. What we're seeing may well be the planets way of correcting our behaviour or even letting us know we've outstayed out welcome and it's time to go. That may not be progress in the way we interpret things now, but that doesn't mean it isn't progress in the grander scheme of things.

Being constantly anxious and restricting the lives of your children is letting murdering scum win. So I won't. I will be living my life just as I always have, in crowds, travelling solo, going to concerts and so on.

I won't let men frighten me away from my life.

The world has always been violent. Children were far more likely to be victims of random violence 100 and 500 years ago than they are now. It's more shocking because it's rare. Surely you know this?