Posted on 12/21/2025 5:11:08 AM PST by MtnClimber
One of the most dangerous illusions Americans are living under today is the belief that safety is ambient, existing automatically, everywhere, and at all times, by virtue of laws, norms, or declarations. For decades, we have been trained to assume that public spaces are fundamentally benign and that vigilance itself is somehow antisocial or unnecessary.
That assumption is no longer valid.
A steady stream of viral videos now documents what many quietly sense: sudden assaults in stores, flash-mob robberies, random attacks on public transport, group intimidation in ordinary places. These are not war zones or failed states. They are malls, trains, sidewalks, and parking lots. The common thread is not criminal genius, but civilian unpreparedness.
America has drifted into what security professionals call Condition White: relaxed, distracted, and unaware. In an era when threats are opportunistic and often collective, that posture is no longer merely naïve. Instead, it is dangerous.
Situational Awareness Is Not Paranoia
The argument here is not for panic or permanent fear. There is a critical distinction between situational awareness and hypervigilance, and confusing the two has left many Americans untrained and exposed.
Situational awareness is a calm, teachable skill. It is the ability to notice what is normal in an environment and recognize when something deviates from that baseline. It is relaxed alertness: heads up, eyes open, mind engaged. It is the same mental posture we use when driving: aware of surroundings, ready to respond, but not consumed by fear.
Hypervigilance, by contrast, is a trauma state. It assumes danger everywhere, exhausts the nervous system, and is unsustainable for ordinary life. No one is advocating that.
What America needs is a cultural reset toward Condition Yellow: alert, observant, and prepared to act early before a situation escalates.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
This is an especially important article for girls and young women.
The author illustrates a girl riding public transit who is menaced by three
attractive clean cut young white men. They look like Mormon missionaries.
Hahahahahah. Like that happened NEVER.
In reality, we know what THEY look like because it is always THEM.
“You can’t have situational awareness if you ignore the truth.”
Yup—situational awareness requires you tell yourself the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
No virtue signaling is allowed.
And once again common sense far outweighs any amount of intelligence or college degrees...
Most people have the Situational awareness of a can of creamed corn. I’m retired LE, so I know a little about it. My ex-wife always remarked how I was scanning people when we were out in public. I told her after awhile it becomes hard to “turn off”. But frankly I had (and have) no intentiom of stopping.
CC
Profiling is your friend. If your gut says get out of there, do it.
My son went to a concert with my wife years ago. At a certain point he grabbed my wife’s arm and told her that they needed to move away. She protested and didn’t want to move, but he insisted. A few seconds later, a fight broke out between a couple of drunk 20 year old guys.
He is a middle school teacher. Head on a swivel all day long.
Great definition - thanks for posting.
*** Hypervigilance, by contrast, is a trauma state. It assumes danger everywhere, exhausts the nervous system, and is unsustainable for ordinary life.***
When I read this, it reminded me of a recent trip to Brooklyn. People everywhere.
I live in a semi rural area. The only time I encounter that many people on the streets is if we have a festival at the town square.
No way could I live in an urban environment. My head is on a swivel. It’s exhausting.
“I was scanning people when we were out in public.”
I dated a cop for a while, and he did the same thing. Not only did he scan people, he scanned the environment. When we walked into an area or room, he immediately took notice of entrances, potential emergency exits, possible safe hiding places.
My Dad was military. Situational awareness has been taught to me since I was a little kid. It’s just a habit now. Sadly most Americans don’t have that training.
Well said.
Situational awareness would not be necessary if we woke up to the truth and fixed the problem. Get the garbage off of our streets and out of our county so the place is safe for Americans again. This is a suicidal lack of empathy by the ruling elite for the plight of the citizens whose care they are charged with.
It’s psychological, a coping mechanism that some call “Normalcy bias”, nobody wants to recognize that the world they once knew no longer exists. There are a lot of assumptions involved, or maybe what we should call fairy tales. But it wasn’t a mythological time. The leftists used to get positively incandescent with rage whenever someone would point out the 1950s had most every American demographic living in objectively better social conditions. The game they play, is to argue that it wasn’t PERFECT for everyone, therefore you should feel guilty (or something) and just accept that some lunatic might set you on fire riding the A train.
America was once a “high trust” society. That is pre-requisite for a reasonably functioning community large or small. It does not require but a small percentage of bad actors to ruin it for everyone.
I taught personnel protection for decades females are the hardest to convince.
The first and probably most important part to awareness in the modern age is : put the damn phone away!
A very non profiling picture
He's aware AND he's a middle school teacher - - tells me he's brave. And a son worthy... congratulations.
Stop posting racist crap.
Grow up.
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