I’m talking firstly physical “safety”, as exemplified by (in the city I’m currently visiting) the removal of iconic local statues that have been in place for years, because “inclusive” idiots very suddenly decided they were a “trip hazard”… Because everyone is on their phones now, and therefore don’t look where they are going. 😑
Of course, this is just a symptom of a much, much wider problem, and only “works” because we’ve spent three years being terrified of a fucking virus, and all the tribalism that brought…
But this goes much further - you have “cultural safety”, you have “safe communications”, you have “safety on campus”, you have “LGBTQ+ safe spaces” - all of which comes back to our most bizarre obsession with the primacy of feelings and feeling safe, even if, in reality, you are probably less “safe” than ever…
Some of this is worse in Australia than elsewhere (the physical “safety” stuff here is probably the worst in the world), but a lot of the other ideological stuff originated in North America…
All in all, it comes back to that saying about “freedom vs temporary safety”, I suppose, but geese, what a bleak, sanitized, generic and utterly boring society we are building, FML… 😒
At the risk of summoning Imp, this is because of women.
In Canada, our PM has repeatedly stated that his job is to keep Canadians safe. This is nonsense; his job is to pass legislation reflecting the will of the people of Canada (which he doesn't do).
Why does he say this? Because women keep him in power; polls show that if women didn't vote, we would have a Conservative majority.
Who, really, is concerned with safety? Men? The guys who drive their trucks through mud holes at high speed for fun? All the boys doing skate tricks? The people who do 99% of the dangerous work in any given society? No, men are concerned with handling risks and coming out the other side more or less intact, which is why we tend to seek risks to take, rather than avoid them.
Women are the ones who try to eliminate risk. Not only is this impossible, it creates a feedback loop; women aren't exposed to the danger that sustains their way of life so they form the opinion that danger is bad, they try to seek out and destroy the little danger that remains to them to feel "safe" and, when that's gone too, they find the next biggest danger. This is because they don't face danger and learn to deal with it; instead they hide and so see danger everywhere.
This is exactly the thinking behind "teach boys not to rape". 99.5% of boys will never rape, regardless of what you teach them. But they could so they're a danger. Teaching girls what to do if one of the 0.5% attacks them is unacceptable because, in the female mind, we need to eliminate danger, not face it (think of the fable of the princess being rescued by the prince; why does it persist?).
So, yes, this is happening and, no, it won't stop until women, as a whole, decide to leave public spaces in favour of their personal safe space ie. the kitchen.
Nailed it.