Boogeymen and Bathrooms: Rational Fear versus Irrational Fear

Boogeymen and Bathrooms: Rational Fear versus Irrational Fear

Nicki Smith

You might get hit by a bus.

People have been hit by busses in the past.  Does that mean you should never cross a road?  Should you stay indoors?  Move to the wilderness where bus service is nonexistent?  Of course not, because you’re smart enough to understand you probably won’t be hit by a bus.

If you’re still afraid of homicidal buses, even knowing how rare they are, that’s called an irrational fear.  As a pedestrian, your odds of being hit by a moving vehicle are one in 47,000.  Rational people don’t let odds like that scare them.  Rational people saunter out into their bus-filled world and carry on with the business of enjoying life.

Now for more about irrational fears.

I think we all have one or two of those fanged, squirming things locked away in our brain’s equivalent of a closet under the stairs.  Most of us ignore the clawing and scratching at the door, but sometimes we listen; sometimes, the morbid fascination is too compelling, and we let the nasty beast out to wreak havoc with our peace of mind.

Nothing good ever comes of this.

Lately I’ve been reading about bathrooms and the boogeymen who frequent them.  Rational people know that boogeymen are rarely found in bathrooms.  Rational people know boogeymen prefer cobwebbed attics, dank basements, and foggy alleyways.

So why are people so frightened, so freaked out, so irrationally afraid of boogeymen in public restrooms?  Because they’re being manipulated by politicians with agendas that have nothing to do with boogeymen, and everything to do with misdirection and manipulation.  There’s a lot of important stuff not getting done in our state and federal buildings while we’re talking about bathrooms.

I don’t know about you, but I have my hands full ignoring the scratching and clawing at the closet door of my own irrational fears.  I don’t intend to let politicians add to that menagerie.

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