Sensory Overload: Is the World All That Bad?

A South Charleston, South Carolina police officer has been accused of murder following a traffic stop. Based on the video evidence, the case against him seems clear, although we must remember that even a police officer has the right to his day in court. This incident follows several other similar incidents of supposed police brutality such as in Ferguson Missouri and New York City. These and other altercations across our country have led to cries against police brutality (as though anyone is for it) and have caused others to question our cultural respect for authority, particularly authority with a badge. Our police, they say, have been militarized and too often abuse their power.

In the middle of Detroit we have the Woodbridge Historic District. It is an active community and perhaps the most vibrant of its kind inside the city limits beyond the more well known communities such as Indian Village and Corktown. Woodbridge is a nice place to live in part because it has an active online community along with a messaging system to alert neighbors of mischievous to downright reprehensible behaviors within its boundaries. It is interesting to note that when something unsavory is noticed residents are encouraged to notify the police immediately. At times, and we say this with all due respect, the shrillness and insistence is so intense as to make one wonder whether its okay to go outside, because every day some new evil arises to almost make one feel unsafe.

What might these two seemingly diverse issues have in common? Nothing short of the information revolution.

That by itself isn't bad, of course. On the whole its surely a good thing. Yet as with all human endeavors it comes with a caveat: it may make things appear worse than they in fact are.

Hardly a day goes by anymore without some new tale of an abuse of police authority rising or of a suspicious vehicle creeping down a thoroughfare in Woodbridge. Many such reports from either source are worth public notice, and even censure. Still, two things come to mind: are things all that bad in Woodbridge, and are cops all just so much evil waiting to strike?

No to both. It is at least within the realm of possibility that we these days simply know too much too quickly to digest it all properly. Woodbridge isn't a bad area at all (far from it!) to live, work and visit merely because a car has been stolen or a potential ne'er-do-well has been spotted by a local big brother (at times simply someone with nothing better to do) snooping from his window. Neither are police officers poorly trained gunslingers because the few who are get caught on someone's cell phone camera. We need a sense of perspective in almost all areas of life if we are to function well as citizens and individuals.

By all means, neighbors, keep an eye out for threats to yourself and your community and duly report the real troubles. And we should be wary of always and everywhere blindly accepting the stories put forth by police authority (or any authority for that matter). Still, we can't help but think that perhaps the feeling of unease over arguably isolated incidents is little more than a result of sensory overload. Things may not actually be so bad as all that. Indeed, they almost surely are not. We ought to bear in mind the logical fallacy of the hasty generalization.