I ought to just stop watching the news

[ratcreature]

It's been awhile since I last did this. Unfortunately the news haven't gotten any better. Still with ticky boxes for everybody who can't decide what to be most anxious about.

Poll #17523 why ratcreature should only look at pictures of fluffy baby animals, 2016 ed.

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

View Respondents

Which inescapable disaster/crisis/calamity do you think is most likely to lead to your demise?

View Answers

the next high mortality rate pandemic will come for sure, possibly via climate change mosquitoes
3 (42.9%)

no pandemics needed, I'll die of some treatable condition, not able to afford medicine, thanks to the health system crisis/collapse
1 (14.3%)

I'll die in a riot/civil unrest brought on by the ongoing global economic crisis/collapse in general
1 (14.3%)

I'll die in a riot/civil unrest brought on by the economic crisis/collapse following the Brexit in particular
1 (14.3%)

I'll die in a riot/civil unrest brought on by rampaging football fans
1 (14.3%)

the climate change catastrophe will kill me through a grand disaster
2 (28.6%)

climate change will kill me slowly through failing crops and the like
3 (42.9%)

climate change will kill me fast but in a boring way through some horrible heat wave or such
3 (42.9%)

I'll die because thanks to the global water crisis I won't be able to afford clean drinking water
0 (0.0%)

I'll die in some armed conflict brought on by the above (or other) ecological disasters
1 (14.3%)

I'll die in some armed conflict brought on by pure stupidity, like someone misinterpreting some screen and/or pushing the wrong button
1 (14.3%)

terrorism! I'll be blown up by some shadowy terrorist organization
0 (0.0%)

terrorism! but it's my government who will dispose of me as "terrorist"
0 (0.0%)

terrorism! some deranged mob will lynch me as "terrorist"
0 (0.0%)

crime! I'll end up as a victim in a crime statistic
1 (14.3%)

crime! but as a victim of the "tough on crime" policies, like tazered to death or shot by police and the like
0 (0.0%)

a meteorite will kill me in a huge extinction level event, but at least I have the consolation that everyone else will be dead along with me
2 (28.6%)

killer robots will get me
0 (0.0%)

killer robots will get me, but it will be an accident (less Terminator, more self-driving cars gone wrong)
2 (28.6%)

I'll get killed by the zombie apocalypse
0 (0.0%)

I'll get killed by the zombie army I raised to protect myself, falling victim to dramatic irony
1 (14.3%)

and so and so forth... (nuclear disaster! war! genetically modified crops! (lack of) bees!...)
1 (14.3%)

Comments

[carmilla]

Thanks for reminding me of the 'killed by a meteorite' option, that's actually really cheery compared to most of the others.

[ratcreature]

You're welcome? (Though personally I prefer looking at pinterest boards full of cute rats to cheer me up...)

[lilacsigil]

Mine's not on the list! I'll die of an entirely treatable illness because I won't be diagnosed because all medical staff will consider my problem to be that I am fat. It's already nearly got me once!

Unless that comes under "tough on (health) crime" policies, because fat women are the third most evil kind of person (behind immigrants and illicit drug users)? Actually, we might be fourth behind smokers, but they're running out of smokers to demonise...

[ratcreature]

*wince* Yeah, I'm familiar with that one. Like, when my fainting first happened they didn't do any tests at all just told me I needed to exercise more. It then went away again for some years and when it came back I was weighing less, and they at least did some tests though they still didn't find any reason. So that thing where the doctor blames you to not have to admit not knowing or not having a solution is definitely worse the more you weigh, because they won't even make any effort anymore to find some other answer. So that's a critical advantage to have that blame pattern kick in later.

I guess this falls under the catch all "and so forth" option for all the depressing things I didn't think of. Also the news don't really cover that but only do the "you will get squashed by the 'obesity epidemic'" catastrophizing coverage, which doesn't make me anxious just annoyed.