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The CULTURE OF FEAR
Why Americans are afraid of the wrong things:
By Barry Glassner
NY:Basic Books:1999
Reviewed by: Lon Woodbury
The author, Barry Glassner, is a Professor of Sociology
at the University of California. This book is a result of
his research into what he calls "a pathology that has
swept the country," that is, misplaced fear. In this
book he traces how a public fear is created, and identifies
those who profit from our anxieties. He further explains
how a successful campaign to establish any kind of fear in
the mind of the public can profit politicians, advocacy groups,
the media and businesses.
In discussing how such misplaced fears become so popular,
the author suggests each popular fear taps into some existing
uneasiness in our society. He used as an example the 1938
War of the Worlds radio broadcast by Orson Wells, which caused
a brief panic about an alleged invasion from Mars. For a
few brief hours, an estimated one million Americans believed
the fictional broadcast and panicked. He suggests that in
1938 the country was already nervous about war news from
Europe and was concerned that America could be dragged into
that conflict. He suggests that the public, already fearing
the worst, was ready for bad news, which resulted in the
unanticipated reaction to the Mars invasion broadcast. Not
only was the panic in this situation driven by the previously
existing nervousness, he goes on to say, but all the panics
experienced by the population are rooted in some pre-existing
concern that is manipulated by those who can profit from
fanning those concerns. He makes it clear that profit is
not just about money. A politician profits through fame and
votes, advocacy groups profit by publicity and increased
donations to fight what is feared, the media profits from
increased readers and viewers, and businesses profit financially
by selling solutions to what is feared.
Crime, road rage, and flesh eating bacteria are a few of
the recent panics he discusses, and shows that as a serious
threat, their existence was more hype than reality. He does
this by quoting serious research on the subjects, comparing
that with popular presentations in the media. The mismatch
is startling.
The fear for our children is given its own chapter, and
he discusses the popular perspective that America's children
face grave dangers, hyped regularly in TV documentaries and
in newspapers. He demonstrates, for example, that teen gambling
and Internet addictions, are
less
prevalent
than feared,
and
when it becomes an actual problem, is usually accompanied
by other serious mental or situational conditions that are
more likely to be the real problem. Besides, he points out,
in many it is just a passing phase of growing up similar
to what most adults went through in their youth, with no
serious long-term effects to those adults’ futures.
Missing children is another on-going panic, fueled especially
by media reports of children abducted by strangers. One example
he cites was Geraldo Rivera's comments on national TV that "they
will come for your kid over the Internet; they will come
in a truck; they will come in a pickup in the dark of night;
they will come in the Hollywood Mall in Florida. There are
sickos out there." Yet, the author reports, criminal
justice experts estimate there are only 200 to 300 children
a year abducted by strangers, out of America's 64 million
children, an almost infinitesimal percentage. An item of
concern by all means, but not justification for a panic that
can protect children from normal living, and frighten them
to where they have an unreasoning fear of everybody!
He compares the popular perception of an epidemic of school
shootings convincing the public that schools are extremely
unsafe, to exhaustive research that shows that children are
more safe in schools than home, parks, or any other place
children congregate.
Or, "We have managed to convince ourselves that just
about every young American male is a potential mass murderer-a
remarkable achievement, considering the steep downward trend
in youth crime throughout the 1990s."
He concludes, "The short answer to why Americans harbor
so many misbegotten fears is that immense power and money
await those who tap into our moral insecurities and supply
us with symbolic substitutes."
This book reminds me of the popular and controversial columnist
in the 1930s, H. L. Mencken, who said essentially the same
thing almost 80 years ago, indicating public hyped fears
are not a new phenomena.
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace
alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing
it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
~ H.L. Mencken
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