I fear that the Sun/New Times and the Santa Barbara County Health Department completely missed the key underlying reason for the higher death rate among older white males in North County (“Death report highlights long-standing geographic inequities in Santa Barbara County,” July 28). Granted, poverty and access to quality health care do play a role, but those factors impact ALL residents of North County. This does not explain the higher death rate between South County and North County older white males. As a native coastal Californian and a 68-year old white male living in North County, I may be able to shed some light on this.
I believe that a great part of the higher death rate can be attributed to stress on their physical and emotional well-being, since I have witnessed a significantly higher level of fear, bitterness, and anxiety among my white male peers here in North County than those I know in South County. An Army commander once told me, “Stress is nothing more than your own personal reaction to a challenging situation.”
As to the source of their stress, I believe it to be from years of watching too much Fox News and embracing its vile mendacity, fabricated by the pundits of intolerance. Being an old white guy who sports a gray beard, many just assume that I am “one of them” and freely share with me their racist, bigoted opinions. Many are retirees who came to the Central Coast for its wonderful climate from somewhere back East where they were denied the benefits of a multicultural, multiracial, multilingual environment. Once exposed to the rich diversity of North County, some embrace it, whereas many others react by displaying the American flag 24/7 and retreating further into their illiberal silos.
A recent presidential election underscored my perception of this phenomena by the plethora of signs for a certain candidate that sprouted from the lawns of many of my elderly transplanted neighbors. Since that election four of them have died. Coincidence?
Stephen Siemsen
Orcutt
