Trending Now
There is no doubt that, at this moment, anxiety, paranoia, and fear are at a fever pitch in the United States. Mass shootings are so firmly implanted in the public consciousness that many people are frightened of becoming a victim on their next trip to the mall, or to school, or to the grocery store.
And the recent mass killings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, have only made Americans more anxious. People are taking to social media to express their fear and incredulity about the current state of affairs in the U.S.
In the tweet above, the woman says, “Whenever I’m in a public space, I think about what would happen if a mass shooting broke out. It’s a constant, low-level anxiety that follows me everywhere. I wonder if it’s just me. I don’t think it is.”
She’s absolutely right: it isn’t just her.
An 18-year-old man from Oregon named Steve Reveles said, “I’ve kinda had this fear for a while but it’s just getting worse because they’re happening more frequently and who knows where the next mass shooting is going to happen or how many are going to happen? Am I safe anywhere?”
A woman named Jes Karakashian shared her thoughts on the subject, explaining to BuzzFeed:
“In 1992 a student shot a teacher in the face at my high school. I was in class two doors down. When I lived in Denver, I watched Columbine happen in real-time on the news. The Aurora Century theater is a theater I frequented years before the shooting there. Several months after Sandy Hook — which was 20 years to the day of the shooting at my high school, by the way — I sent my eldest to kindergarten, where on the first day of school there was a lockout because the police were looking for a man who had shot his girlfriend in Rochester the day before. I’ve never been more terrified in my life for my child’s safety.”
Other people shared their feelings on Twitter as well.
https://twitter.com/JesDKArt/status/1157769666686836738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeednews.com%2Farticle%2Ftanyachen%2Fi-dont-feel-safe-anywhere-people-describe-anxiety-to-el
https://twitter.com/dannieovo/status/1157844805864579072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeednews.com%2Farticle%2Ftanyachen%2Fi-dont-feel-safe-anywhere-people-describe-anxiety-to-el
https://twitter.com/trillxsteve/status/1157873086697336833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeednews.com%2Farticle%2Ftanyachen%2Fi-dont-feel-safe-anywhere-people-describe-anxiety-to-el
Scary times, indeed. Stay safe out there…
