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scottjk -> RE: The Myth That All Folks Into D/s Can Be Trusted (11/12/2008 12:56:11 PM)
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I've been reading all this (and subsequent and odd modifications or deletions of posts), and I do have an opinion to offer.
Over the years, visiting various sites involving kink lifestyle, the discussion of safety has often come up. I'm not the most eloquent writer, and I can't say I'm a perfect observer, but in discussing safety issues the phrase, "It only needs to happen once!" seems to come up almost all the time. There have been many people that throw a flag on that kind of thinking, trying to bring reason into the discussion but I've seen them shouted down by quite eloquent (and abusive) writers that seem to thrive of fear, doubt and uncertainty. Sure we can point out statistics all day long, and often do. The sad thing about statistics is that you can make them into what you want, rather than seeing it for what it is. Allow me to demonstrate.
- Coin toss
- The chances for one side or the other to come face up is one chance in two. That means that if you toss the coin one hundred times, there's a good chance it will come up heads fifty times, and tails fifty times.
- Dice roll
- The chances of rolling a two on a six-sided dice is one chance in six. That means if you roll the dice one hundred times, there's a good chance that you'll roll a two sixteen times.
- Cards
- The chances of pulling an ace of spades out of a deck of cards is one chance in fifty-two. That means if you try one hundred times, there's a good chance that you'll pull the ace of spades twice.
Do you see where I'm going with this? Statistics demonstrate the probable chances of an event happening during certain conditions that exists. The media just loves this stuff, because they're betting you're too ignorant to understand statistics. Let's look at auto accidents and fatalities. Let's say that of all auto accidents, 1,000 for instance, there are 200 deaths. So, what does that mean? 20% of those accidents were lethal? What were the factors that caused those accidents? Intoxication? Distractions? Weather conditions? How many cars involved? Two? Three? Seven? Of those involved, how many were trucks? Tractor-trailers? All of a sudden, those numbers don't mean very much, do they? That's why the media loves statistics. It can be news, when it really isn't. It's the same for those that write reports to continue funding for research. They massage the numbers so that they LOOK like what they need them to look like without actually lying. Also, let's face it, unless it's a human interest story, blood always sells in the media. Insurance companies love statistics too, so they can justify their premiums, and even better, they don't have to explain the numbers, just report them in a certain way.
Now we come to safety. Everything we do in life, even in front of the computer is riddled with some form of danger. How? Think about it. For every activity you do, ask yourself, "How can I be hurt doing this?", then ask yourself, "Why do I do it if I could get hurt some how." You'll often tell yourself that the benefits you receive from doing what you do outweighs the danger of being harmed.
So, here's my point after all this: It's acceptable to be safety minded, as long as you keep the benefits in mind! In what we do, there are far more stories of safe meetings than there are of unsafe meetings. If you feel you must avoid risks, remember what it will cost you in benefits.
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