December 21, 2025
Why America Must Relearn Situational Awareness
By David DeMay
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That assumption is no longer valid.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
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/12/why_america_must_relearn_situational_awareness.html