Paranoid or Prepared

There are those who, because of the job I do, think me paranoid; and I get why people may think this i.e. if I’m spending a lot of my waking hours researching and thinking about violence, that when I leave my desk or school, and come out into the world, I must be on the constant lookout for potential dangers and threats: that I must be the guy who always sits facing the door in a restaurant, that I’m constantly randomizing my movement like I’m on foot patrol in a warzone, and every time I hear a loud noise, I’m hitting the deck etc. If anybody believes that these behaviors and actions, are the signs of somebody with good situational awareness, I would argue otherwise – yes, there are benefits to sitting facing a door, but there are other entrances and exits to be aware of as well and having these “blind” rules that we follow is not productive. Also, if you see me at a bar, and you tap me on the back, don’t worry that I’m going to turn around and deliver you a “death blow”. I’m prepared, I’m aware, but I’m not paranoid, and I don’t see danger everywhere I go. The reason for this is that I think about, and study, aggressive, criminal and violent behavior - a lot.

For many years, I had an extreme fear of flying – and especially flying at night. I’d been involved in a near-to, a while back, and abrupt movements due to turbulence, or even subtle movements involving changes of direction, would cause me to sweat, and tense up. I wouldn’t say that I now enjoy flying, but it’s no longer a traumatic experience for me. I finally got over this “fear” by reading everything I could about air disasters, and also everything I could find on flights that could have gone in this direction, but didn’t. Although I came across instances of technical and human failures, by and large, I was impressed at the intelligence, ingenuity and creativity of pilots to overcome some truly overwhelming odds. I have also talked to pilots, and asked them questions about what a sensation, such as feeling pushed down in your seat (something that used to happen to me many times on flights between Boston and New York/Newark), actually meant in terms of the physics of the plane etc. I’m a big believer that when educated about something, the unknowns start to disappear, and it is these that are often responsible for our fear and unease. It is the unknown that causes us to be afraid, and paranoid.

One of the analogies I use about the way education, reduces rather than increases fear/paranoia, is that of gazelles in Africa – the way in which animals manage their fear and keep safe, bears great lessons for us humans. The lion, is one of the gazelle’s natural predators, but sometimes the best grass to graze on is in close proximity to a pride; and also, when they graze, they want to be relaxed, so their digestive systems work efficiently. Gazelle, know that lions usually sleep in the afternoon, rather than hunt, and more importantly what a sleeping lion looks like, as compared to a hunting one. They’re educated about the threats and dangers they face, and when they’re likely to face them. This allows them to go about their business in a relaxed state. When the lion wakes up, and starts to stretch, that’s when they start moving, and raise their awareness.

Not thinking about something is stressful and anxiety-provoking. If you know what dangers there are out there and how manifest themselves, you can prepare to deal with them – once prepared, you can relax i.e. you know and can identify the warning signs, and you have a plan in place to deal with the situations that can arise. If you don’t want to think about your potential threats and vulnerabilities, everything will frighten you, because you won’t know what you shouldn’t be frightened of. Several years ago, in the UK, the tabloid press, ran several scare stories that made it look like any group of black teenagers in hooded tops, were the biggest threat to your safety. I lived in London, next to a park, where there were always groups of teenagers, wearing hooded tops. Never did I see any of them behave in a manner, or give off any warning signals, that signaled they were about to attack me, or anyone else. But, I knew several people who were scared to walk through that park. They didn’t know what to look for as far as Pre-Violence Indicators were concerned, so their only option, with the incorrect information they had, was to be scared. A little information, around identifying danger, would have allowed them to relax.

Many times, people don’t want to think about a particular threat or vulnerability they have because it overwhelms them, or they are convinced that there is nothing than can be done – often they get caught in a strange Catch-22, where they don’t want to believe that there’s anything they can do, because if there was, they would be forced to think about it. Often schools, colleges and universities don’t want to think about Active Shooter/Killer scenarios, because it exposes their vulnerabilities, and suggests a level of susceptibility etc. It is easier – and more reassuring - not to think about it; until an incident occurs and they have to. It may be initially unpleasant and uncomfortable to think about a mass killer in your educational facility, and something that scares the hell out of you (as it should), but there are methods and approaches for dealing with such situations, that don’t rely on gun control, or passing legislation that allows/requires an armed presence in a school, etc. That debate and discussion can happen, whilst other solutions are being put into place – getting distracted into inaction, by believing the solution is only a legislative/debatable one, means we don’t have to think about what changes we could make on the ground now. It’s a way of not thinking about the issue, which leaves us paranoid, rather than prepared.

There are those who over-prepare to the point of seeming paranoid, but it doesn’t have to be this way. A good and realistic education into different forms of violence, should see us putting plans into place that deal with them – and when we do this we can relax and go about our business, just like the gazelle.