Weighing up the risk
I came across a new word today.
I’m sitting here contemplating the fluff in my navel while Herself had the radio on in her room. I wasn’t listening as I wasn’t interested and the volume was low anyway. But words floated out on the ether from time to time – corona, mask, vaccinations, antigen – and then the word appeared – derisking. Wow! I hadn’t heard that one before.
I gather they were waffling on about the Virus and what the fuck was to be done next, as the numbers are rising and they have promised no more lockdowns. So they were talking about Antigen Testing as a “way forward”. Now I gather this test is tricky, not pleasant and not very reliable but – and here we go – it could be a “Derisking Device”. People could test themselves and thereby judge the risk of visiting Granny or somesuch.
Two words that are extremely popular these days are “risk” and “safety”. The strange thing is that I don’t remember hearing them much in my formative years. My parents never urged me to play safely or not to do something that might be risky. As a result I did things that would make a modern Elf and Saferty Officer have a fit of conniptions.
I used to play in the ruins in the field behind my house, crawling under unstable slabs of concrete. I used to go wading out into the local lime-pits which were full of water and very deep [I can’t swim]. On the subject of water I spent a very happy summer rowing around every day in the open sea on my own [no lifejacket and still couldn’t swim]. I used to cycle everywhere be it country roads or the heart of the city. My parents never used to know where I was unless I was at home or at school. No one ever urged me to be safe. No one ever mentioned risk.
Of course I suppose it’s possible that my parents just wanted to be rid of me?
But now everyone is frightened. They are frightened of the Virus. They are frightened of the climate. They are frightened of the smell of tobacco smoke. They look to the gubmint to tell them what is safe or what is risky.
So now there is a testing kit to derisk their lives?
“They look to the gubmint to tell them what is safe or what is risky.”
And yet from my point of view; the government (both State and U.S.) are the two things that can do me the most harm.
If from childhood on you are shielded from every tiny little “risk”, you don’t develop a good understanding of what you can deal with, what your limits are, and also what your strengths are, no? You then become afraid of everything of which you don’t know if you can deal with it? You then depend on some “experts” to tell you how high a risk something is? You don’t know how to trust in your own resources?
The University of Life is the best teacher of all. How else would we learn that fire is really fucking hot, or that electricity is best kept insulated?
I’ve heard the word derisking for some time now. I’ve even used it myself to describe actions taken to reduce that risk to zero. I’m sure it was to do with H&S which seems to be the only area that actually looks at that as an end goal for everything. Most areas just look at reducing it to a manageable level. H&S go that extra mile which is why everything that gets stopped because of risk is usually around a H&S issue.
I did a search and apparently it’s a term mainly used in high finance. It’s a term I haven’t come across before.
I would assume that the ultimate goal of derisking is the removal of all risk, which as all sane people know; is not possible.
Dear Grandad
https://www.facebook.com/shoalhavenhistory/posts/4472176466205961
Enjoy!
DP
What?
Dear Grandad
Facebook works in mysterious ways.
This link should have the intended video at the top. I think the ones below are a random selection from other users.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=964270637458487
DP
Dear Me
The link still seems to work.
I trust all viewers noted the disclaimer on the flying fox and the absence of a SAFETY DEVICE on said fox. Also no ‘CE’ mark, beloved of the blessed EU (for those still entrapped). How did we survive without a ‘CE’ mark?
I understand no persons were injured in the making of this film (not a video, since they had not been invented), but I am pretty sure that all animate lifeforms including human, equine and canine(and any I missed) will be deceased, eventually.
I believe Pat Scott survived long enough to be interviewed about her ‘school run’. Don’t know about her sister, though.
DP