[Bumpman]

I guess it's like anything else really, people tend to concentrate on what they're being told. For instance you'll be quite likely to worry about the amount of money in the bank, but if you own a house a bad day for house prices could end up with you being a few hundred grand poorer, yet most people wouldn't notice that, and might still be worried about the cost of bread and milk.

What really depresses me about something like the Virginia Tech shooting is seeing people use it to their advantage to try to make a cheap political point. For instance Dr. Phil had blamed the whole thing on videogames before the police had even identified a suspect. When it turned out that the shooter didn't own or play videogames it didn't matter, because there's still a seed of fear in people's minds.