Reality Check

The news is a great way to find things out but they tend to show mostly the sensational. The sensational usually means someone died. I don’t know about you reader but it can get to me sometimes. Not that it shouldn’t but I do want my feelings of fear and sadness to be more in line with the actual horror that is going on out there.

One thing I do to mitigate an exaggerated view of the world is limit my news watching time. Watching too much can cross the line from getting information to brainwashing. I get that they want us to be riveted to their station. It’s capitalism at it’s finest. For my part however I would like to live a happy as possible life.

So there are a few things I do to reality check myself from time to time. I pulled the pie chart which I included in this article from 2018 CDC statistics on accidents and homicides in the USA. It gives me comfort to know that my chances of being murdered are roughly 6 in 100,000 in any given year. Apparently I am more likely to take my own life. The real reason for owning a gun I guess.

Below is the rest of the data including the data I used to make the pie chart. While we are all still vulnerable and delicate creatures (yes I’m even looking at you Dwayne Johnson), life has become quite a bit safer for the most part since the 50’s. The trend in most of the categories is pretty astounding.

Anyhoo it gives me comfort so I thought I would share. If you want to dig further there is a ton more data on the CDC site.

cause of death	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2018
Diseases of heart	588.8	559	492.7	412.1	321.8	257.6	179.1	163.6
Ischemic heart disease				345.2	249.6	186.8	113.6	90.9
Cerebrovascular diseases	180.7	177.9	147.7	96.2	65.3	60.9	39.1	37.1
Cancer	193.9	193.9	198.6	207.9	216.0	199.6	172.8	149.1
Trachea, bronchus, and lung	15	24.1	37.1	49.9	59.3	56.1	47.6	34.8
Colon, rectum, and anus		30.3	28.9	27.4	24.5	20.8	15.8	13.4
Respiratory				28.3	37.2	44.2	42.2	39.7
Influenza and pneumonia	48.1	53.7	41.7	31.4	36.8	23.7	15.1	14.9
Liver Disease	11.3	13.3	17.8	15.1	11.1	9.5	9.4	11.1
Diabetes mellitus	23.1	22.5	24.3	18.1	20.7	25.0	20.8	21.4
Alzheimer’s disease						18.1	25.1	30.5
AIDS					10.2	5.2	2.6	1.5
Accidental Injury	78	62.3	60.1	46.4	36.3	34.9	38.0	48.0
Car Accidents	24.6	23.1	27.6	22.3	18.5	15.4	11.3	11.7
Poisoning	2.5	1.7	2.8	1.9	2.3	4.5	10.6	19.3
Nerve Disease				9.1	9.3	13.5	15.3	12.9
Suicide	13.2	12.5	13.1	12.2	12.5	10.4	12.1	14.2
Homicide	5.1	5.0	8.8	10.4	9.4	5.9	5.3	5.9
Total	1,184.3	1,179.3	1,101.2	1,333.9	1,140.8	992.1	775.8	720.0