Reasonable situational vigilance can spiral into perceiving danger where none exists

Evidence

White fear begins with logical feelings of unease about specific situations and spirals from there. It makes sense to be doubly vigilant when we drive in neighborhoods plagued by high crime rates. People, especially women, are mindful of the potential dangers of walking in a parking lot late at night. But that same vigilance can also lead us to perceive danger where it does not exist. The particulars of the situation don’t really matter. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 196

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Warnings in wilderness fixate on dramatic dangers while real ones go unmentioned. — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 524