Okay, last post didn't fly. I want to know what people think about...

[punpirate]

... why people in the most heavily-armed country in the world are so damned scared--scared of terrorists, scared of their government, scared of each other, scared of their shadows.

Even if you aren't scared a bit, I want to know why you think everyone else is scared out of their skins.

Tell me what you think about duct tape and plastic. About 9/11. About the Patriot Act. About al-Qaeda. About George W. Bush. About why, in a period of nominal peace (no official, declared wars), everybody's scared.

I want to hear from as many people as possible about the nature of fear in this country. I want to know what emotionally rips the skin off of people and why.

I want to know, ultimately, why a country that thinks it's the best in the world, the most powerful in the world, is so damned scared.

I want to hear what you think, even if you don't think we're scared.

Okay, to explain, it's a research project of mine. I want to know. I need to know why we get so fuckin' excited about whatever Fox News tells us to be excited about, for example.

The more the better. Let it pour out on the floor. Why are people in this country scared, and what scares them?

Cheers.

[Old and In the Way]

1. Fear of the future?

I think the economic realities of whats going on in the world underlie a lot of the fear. The "ME evilduers" become a convenient image to latch onto and channel that fear in a destructive manner.

[punpirate]

5. Good... and thanks...

... OAIITW.

Cheers.

[WCGreen]

78. Mrs. WC Green watches the Family Fued....

I don't hold that against her,,,,

Anyway, the question was on a scale of one to ten, how frightened are you of the future....

The number one answer 10

[EFerrari]

2. I think people are afraid of just being able to survive

as they lose jobs, health coverage, homes, pensions, schools, opportunities. Watching our youth being sent to die for the interests of a few corporations. Our standard of living is being demolished as steadily as our civil liberties are being eroded. (Did you vote count? How do you know?)

Now, people who are like me fear the Bush Cabal because we believe they are responsible parties to this mess. Or rather, we fear the consequences of their actions that we will pay for.

Other people must find it more bearable to put their fear "out there" and focus on the bogey man of the hour.

[punpirate]

7. Projection of personal worries on the external situation, then...

... can you expand on that? Does survival in the economic sense of maintaining a standard of living somehow get conflated to the most elemental aspects of brute survival? Is that the provenance of those fears--that if any of it goes away, it all goes away?

Thanks.

Cheers.

[EFerrari]

15. Well, if you take the case of the homeless, a group I work with

there is no conflation, just a natural consequence.

My own family lives as simply as possible so we can do community work half time. I supposed we trust that we will be able to manage should some unforeseen catastrophe happen to us or to our community.

But, I'd say, yes to your question. People seem to invest a lot of their need for security (as if that really existed!) in things, maybe in metaphors like "retirement plans" or "health plans" or "college plan". And if something happens to threaten one of those "plan" - threat of loss or some loss of idealization (the plans aren't as good as they were hoped to be), then impotence and fear hits.

I don't know if that makes sense. :)

[punpirate]

18. I was thinking more along the lines...

... of average people not economically in danger at the moment. Perhaps those are not the people with whom you interact regularly in your community work. I just had a flash that those fears you earlier described might be related to an all or none mindset--if one part comes crashing down, it all does (that might be a literal truth these days). But you mention a key word--security--and it might be interesting to describe what security means to the people you know--from as many different viewpoints as you care to elaborate on.

Cheers.

[EFerrari]

24. For my well to do friends, it's their trust funds,

for my homeless neighbors it's their spot on the beach or the bit of credit they can get at the local mom and pop.

What seems sort of strange to me (as a first generation American) is most people don't seem to think about their family members as "assets". Particularly in these times, that is just odd to me as a Latina brought up to put family first and to expect the family to help when asked.

[punpirate]

29. I find that observation very interesting...

... about not thinking of family members as assets--it's exactly the opposite of what is the traditional view of, say, Asian immigrant families, for example. Without trying to push an ethnic point in this question, let me put it this way--is comfort and generational solidity in this country a factor in this, i.e., the more settled someone is in the country, are they more likely to worry about losing what they have? And, if so, are the measurements of that loss in terms of wealth or possessions, rather than family bonds? As I read this back to myself, it seems like a thoroughly stupid question, but it still might be worth asking. :)

Cheers.

[EFerrari]

31. And to tweak a bit more

it may be that the more settle in this country a family becomes, the more the issue of security becomes an "issue" becaus they are more likely to lose the traditional family network that they could rely on to sustain them in other cultures.

:)

[punpirate]

36. Thanks...

... that makes sense, but it would take me a while to write it out in sociological-speak. :)

Cheers.

[punpirate]

38. THANK YOU ALL FOR RESPONDING, AND...

... I'm up way past my bedtime (I never should have started this thread this early in the morning, but it was an impulsive thing). :)

Please, keep discussing this and offering opinions, and I'll reply later, after I've had a nap.

I value what all of you have said. Truth is, I've been doing some writing on this subject and I was plain stumped for ideas about this subject of fear on the part of Americans, and you've all already helped me organize my thoughts a bit.

Much appreciated. Back later to read your comments.

Cheers.

[SouthernDem2004]

3. They do not seem scared to me. Actually, they seem oblivious.

People seem to be going on with their lives completely unaware of what is happening outside of this country. People just do not seem to care.

[EFerrari]

6. Denial is a remarkable mechanism. n/t

[punpirate]

8. That begs another question...

... given what the government says almost daily. Why are people oblivious?

Cheers.

[SouthernDem2004]

13. Well the government warns of terrorist daily but nothing ever happens.

People eventually stop paying attention. We have not been directly hit in years so people are not concerned.

American's have a very short attention span.

[punpirate]

17. Sorry if this turns into twenty questions...

... but what's the cause of that short attention span, in your estimation? What in our culture causes it?

Cheers.

[SouthernDem2004]

20. Numerous things...

Life is good for alot of Americans. They think everything is okay so who cares what happens overseas...

Life is bad for alot of Americans. They are to busy to do anything other then try to make ends meet.

Alot have heard it all before. Its just like the story of chicken little. People have said to often that the sky is falling.

[Tallison]

66. Consumer culture in large part...

which dictates the manic pace and scheduling template for almost everything on network and cable television these days. This culture furthermore saturates our environment with advertising images and soundbites of ever-increasing sensory stimulation quotients in an effort to compete for consumers' attentions. To boot, these advertisers, and those mediums they "sponsor" hawk a quick-fix worldview in which their products are presented as playing an integral part. There's some pretty insidious psychology behind modern marketing, but the advertising industry wouldn't be so multibillion dollar if it wasn't so pervasively effective.

[Oversea Visitor]

4. Easy

Do not unto others what you do not want others to do unto you.

:spank: naughty boy now scare eeh.

[punpirate]

11. I notice your screen name...

... and wonder if coming from somewhere else changes your opinions about the question. Would you think differently had you been raised here, and if not, why? If so, why?

[Oversea Visitor]

48. Simple

As one of the world most powerful nation you dont have enemies.....
of course unless you go looking for them heh heh
Now all this terror stuff is self created... end up with all kinds of fear hey.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. They are scared because they are willfully ignorant.

a lot of people around here are seeing jobs disappearing, the price of things going up while their wages stay the same, and they haven't got a clue why. My boss is a good example-he's thinking if gas prices go up too much more, he'll be out of business. He didn't have a clue why gas prices were up because - surprise- he never listens to the news. Had no idea that London was hit by terrorist attacks. And guess what? He doesn't WANT to know, according to him. So he has vague nebulous fears because he doesn't want to be informed. One of his employees says all politicians are crooks and we can't do anything about it or our country's moral slide towards facism. Again, he's a person that doesn't read the news or listen to it more than the five minute broadcast on our local Clear Channel country radio station.

Meanwhile, the local mystics are getting together more and more, doing practices to dispel fear. So not everyone out there is scared.

[punpirate]

12. Good example, but why do you think this boss of yours...

... has his head in the sand? Is he afraid that he can't change a thing, or does he really believe it will all go away if he ignores it? If so, why do you think he believes that?

Cheers.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

98. Personality

he thinks if he ignores bills, they will get paid by themselves. If he "forgets" appointments to go fishing, they will get done. I'm there to get the bills paid and make sure someone else does the work, but frankly, after several years of this, its getting me down.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

63. He didn't know about London?

How the hell is that possible?

[Ruffhowse]

10. I think the more people have, the more they are afraid they might

lose it. This country is wallowing in wealth for many people, and even our middle class is very well off compared to most of the world. Special interests in this country have an agenda that is well served by using the media to keep people in a state of perpetual fear that they may "lose it all".

[punpirate]

14. That's a pet theory of mine, too...

... but I'd like to know why you think average people with not much to lose would support the politics of those with a great deal to lose. Maybe it's obvious, but I'm stupid about this.

Cheers.

[Ariana Celeste]

61. To add to that, if I may-

I think added to the fear of losing it all, the average American wouldn't know first thing about how to fend for themselves if left without power, cars, fast food, etc. As a society we have forgotten how to build, to hunt, to gather, to do all the necessary dirty work if things were to go bad. And I may be wrong, but I think that may weigh upon a lot of people's minds. I think that's part of why the whole "We're fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here" thing works so well.
If an enemy were to fight us here, a lot of people may end up having to fend for themselves without the comfort of modern luxuries. (As if a band of terrorists or group of Iraqi's defending themselves could cause that much trouble for us.... but FOX would have the average American think so.)

[GeekMonkey]

16. FEAR Sells

It's that simple.

TV advertisers have known it for years, and so the media pushes fear.

Not just fear of crime and terrorism, but fear of not being sexy enough, not being popular enough, not being rich enough, not being thin enough, not being clean enough, not being loved enough.

Fear as a manipulation device is nothing new.

Fear is how people were able to convince others into believing all sorts of religious myths, from the wrath of Allah, or God, or whatever fictional character you can scare people with.

[punpirate]

22. Another pet theory of mine...

... so I hope you'll expand on it--we're the most powerful nation in the world--why are we fearful? Just advertising? What politicians say on television? What's dominant? What's pervasive in the culture? What in the culture prompts us to cheer on invasions of other countries when we already think of ourselves as all-powerful?

Cheers.

[GeekMonkey]

54. Bullies are often the most fearful

The US is no exception

[liberal N proud]

19. Many are afraid of what the bu$h regime has and is doing to America

America as we all knew it, where freedom rings ha,ha,ha.
Others are afraid because the bu$h regime has told them to be afraid. Theirs is a false fear. They have been told that the Muslim world wants to kill them, so they will do what ever little George tells. They play along because they are not strong enough, their fear is easier than facing the truth that they failed America when they supported the regime.

[punpirate]

23. More twenty questions, here, I suppose...

... but, you seem to suggest that the fearful in our society are that way out of cowardice ("They play along because they are not strong enough, their fear is easier than facing the truth....").

What's the source of that cowardice, in your opinion? From whence does it come?

Cheers.

[liberal N proud]

44. Organized religion

I attend church faithfully, why, I don't know sometimes. But what I see in churches lately is a bunch of people who are afraid to make their own decisions and afraid of themselves. They are willing to let someone else tell them what is good for them.
That makes them vulnerable to the fear that a regime can propagate and when they have control of the pulpit it is that much easier.

[Skidmore]

21. Americans, in particular, like to believe that bad things

only happen to other peoples. As a nation,we seek to live our lives risk-free. We buy too much insurance, drive huge cars which serve as armor for us on the roads, diet ourselves to death (literally, for those with eating disorders), believe that "packing heat" somehow makes us less a threat to our neighbors, take way too many drugs to prevent all kinds of potential maladies, overbuild gadget-filled homes in an attempt to feel secure and nested, overconsume goods and products as we equate "having" with "being", and try to ward off age and the suffering it can bring with it by covering up well earned wrinkles or cutting them out. The boomers, in particular, believe they have a right to live forever and on their terms only. I am a boomer who has watched a fair number of my contemporaries make asses of themselves as middle age threatened their self-image. Our national self-image is suffering from the same hubris. We have handicapped the next generation by teaching them the same crap. We have no right to expect the rest of the world to stare down the barrel of huge missiles and not be threatened by it. People in this country are scared of themselves and their human condition.

This boomer wears her wrinkles proudly and seeks to leave this world with no more than I brought into it. This boomer proudly teaches her children that they are only worthy when the are able to see beyond their own creature comforts and understand that there is good and value in all humans and in the greater universe. That the goal of all generations should be peace.

[annabanana]

25. .... years of free floating anxiety....

promoted by Madison Ave. Do you stink? Are you FAT? Boobs too little? too big? Dick too short? Unsightly rash/zit/bumps/baggy eyes? Are you ANXIOUS? Not confident around people? Afraid of using the wrong word?
..........the list is endless.

All they have to do is focus it on this or that..

[OneBlueSky]

26. mainly because BushCo and their house organs -- . . .

the corporate media -- have been fomenting a culture of fear at least since 9/11 . . . when the government and the media tells you "Be afraid -- be VERY afraid!" often enough, people start to believe it . . . and they're afraid . . .

[BornLeft]

27. I am fearful because of this

"Bin Laden determined to attack US" and they let him. I do not fear Bin Laden but i fear my current regime.

[punpirate]

33. That's understandable....

The word that strikes me in your reply is "regime." Why is that applicable to this country today, if I can ask further of you?

It's apparent to most of us why you say that, so could you relate that to our notions about our country as a democracy, where regimes are supposed not to exist? Yes, I'm probably belaboring the obvious, but I'd value an explanation.

Cheers, and thanks.

[BornLeft]

40. This is really

heartbreaking for me to admit, but my America does not exist any longer. It now has become a cesspool of criminals, corporate whores and Nazis. never have i felt like i am living in a foreign country than I do today. I lived 2 years in Saudi Arabia and swear it almost feels the same here.I have ALMOST lost all hope, i cannot even with a straight face tell my wife who was not born in America what a great country it was. It's almost unbelievable that we have fallen so far.

[jody]

28. Open societies that value personal freedoms are the most vulnerable. n/t

[punpirate]

30. Begs the question, then...

... why are open societies most vulnerable? Is it some specific fear responsible for that, or some other force entirely?

Cheers.

[jody]

39. The term "open societies" includes freedom of movement and association

that makes coordinated attacks like multiple bombs very easy. The Patriot Act is a typical government reaction to such attacks claiming we must curb freedom of movement and association in order to prevent attacks. Of course when the Patriot Act proves to be less than 100% effective, then we hear demands for more curbs on freedoms.

Under our Constitution, government is obligated to provide for the "common defense" but not to protect any individual unless she/he is in custody. The Patriot Act and similar laws are really designed to protect the government and only as a byproduct individuals.

One might not be wrong in asserting that government is being used to protect the Wal-Marts of the New World Order and not Jane and John Doe who live on Main Street, USA.

[American in Asia]

32. These things don't really bother me much,

but then I live in a place with an insurgency, and bombs going off in the capital city from time to time, so...maybe I'm more used to it.

My guess is that it's just an inability to correctly judge and react to risks. Kinda like how many are so afraid to fly (or at least feel nervous about it), and yet don't to drive, where they're much more at risk. Or countless other activities - heck, I won't even let my kids bungee jump - and yet, objectively, the risk is very low. Part of that, of course, is the perceived lack of control (I drive the car, not the plane - though of course that's meaningless too.)

Add to that, our ability to put ourselves in horrific situations, mentally, and all the emotion gets revved up. Think of the way the tsunami pictures affect us, but the nameless, faceless millions dying of disease and hunger don't. The "it could have been me" mentality.

Just a guess..

[sam sarrha]

34. NEOCON's have a mind control system in place.. they planned this for years

it is working.. they have been spending millions since reagan admin and they have even redefined the language we defend our freedoms with and have hamstrung us.

http://www.alternet.org/story/15935

http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2003/cr071003.htm

the corporations even bought out the publiching companies and regulate the publiching of books.. and have even changed the defination of Fascist.. look it up in a new dictionary..
then read this
http://www.indybay.org/print.php?id=1719333

we are doomed...

[sam sarrha]

35. check out the >> in my previous post...

[reverendpatrick]

37. A slightly different approach...

If I'm not mistaken, a majority of the people in this country identify themselves as Born-Again Christians or Evangelical Christians. Half or more than half of all Americans. That's a lot of people, and they're a certain breed. It's a specific world-view which can be quite cult-like. And I believe that those people have a very specific fear which is driving ALL of this. (on "our" side. Our "enemies" are driven by the same fear.)

What is that fear?

It's the fear that their view of the universe and mankind's place in it is wrong. It's the fear that there is no Big Daddy in the Sky and everything in their Biblios is wrong. It's the fear that if we don't muck it all up now, we may get out into space, as should be our destiny, and learn once and for all that all the old stories are just that - stories. It's the fear that they're just WRONG and they've got to fuck it all up before that's proven once and for all. It's a primal fear, a fear with no name, a fear that can't be articulated (by them) and they're going to take the rest of us down with them, dammit!

Look, it's frikkin' 2005! We should have flying cars by now! HAL was supposed to have screwed up the mission to Jupiter four years ago, but what happened instead? One group of monkeys knocked down a monolith built by another group of monkeys and yelled
"Nya nya nya nya nya!"

The other group of monkeys threw shit in their faces and rocks at their heads in response. And then the killing. If we are occupied with the killing, then we won't get out to the stars and we won't discover the truth:

There is no god and there never was...

[sam sarrha]

41. this is a serious variable.. Christian mafia/Christian Fellowship..LINK>>>

http://www.insider-magazine.com/ChristianMafia

now what does the Christian right have in common with Nazi's and Fascists...??? check out the link

the Christian Mafia runs the "Prayer Breakfasts" you always hear about Bush going to

[DrRang]

43. Same theme, slightly different content . . .

The thing that drives me most nuts about the born-again Armageddonists is the indifference of a lot of them to environmental destruction--it doesn't matter if we wreck the planet because Jesus is coming again any day now, rapture up whoever agrees with them, blah blah.

But we were wondering the other day if that assumption is backwards. People usually know stuff deep down, even if they practice complete denial. Maybe the Rapturists realize on a gut level that our society's way of life is completely unsustainable, and in response, rather than confront the problem, they cook up this flying-out-of-your cars to meet Jesus in the sky stuff that allows them to block awareness of environmental catastrophy.

[punpirate]

62. As a current phenomenon...

... yes, this might have validity. But, dispensationalism as a religious concept is about 160 years old, and about 100 years old in this country (the Scofield Bible was first published in 1911 or 1912, as I recall). That notion of the Rapture predates the environmental movement by some considerable time.

So, perhaps it is more a case of the evangelicals suddenly embracing a previously discarded (or more, accurately, disregarded) religious theory as a counterweight to the acknowledgement of unsustainability?

So, this is sort of an ego protection in a way--this redemption story is a means of alleviating guilt?

For the very religious evangelicals who sincerely believe in the Rapture, what do you think is their underlying fear, if one thinks of the Rapture as a defense mechanism? Is it really the fear that we're being environmentally destructive, as you suggest? I'm just wondering, because polls generally show that an as large or larger portion of the public wants environmental protections than say they are born-again Christians--and both groups are substantial.

M'self, I think the attitude best representing what you're describing was Reagan's--he was intimating thirty years ago that environmentalism was a waste of time because Armageddon was coming.

Do you think this is function of traditional millennialism, as some social psychologists think?

Cheers.

[SmokingJacket]

60. A majority is not evangelical or born-again.

They would like you to believe that, but according to the last census, only about 44% self-identify as born-again or evangelical, and that includes evangelicals of all religions (I believe).

Yeah, still a lot, but I'm not ready to relinquish majority status to them!!

http://www.adherents.com/adh_dem.html

[punpirate]

64. But to the point offered, about the Rapture...

... Bill Moyers wrote a few months ago: "A 2002 Time/CNN poll found that 59 percent of Americans believe that the prophecies found in the Book of Revelations are going to come true."

I would guess that suggests an underlying nervousness in society about ... what?

Cheers.

[LiberallyInclined]

42. Fear comes from ignorance-

that's all you need to know as to why so many people in this country fear so many things.

[marions ghost]

51. not sure about that...

in general, knowledge is power. But sometimes the more you know about something, the more it engenders fear. I'll give a general example--realizing that our leaders are corrupt and just HOW corrupt, increases fear. It is profoundly scary to realize that there are few real "protections" for the average person, that we are pawns in a bigger game. Individuals and individual rights are being sacrificed daily in our culture. There is a free-floating fear in realizing this--"Could I be next?"

So people cling to groups and public figures they see as "strong"--no matter what the reality is. You could say that fundies are ahead of the game in banding together in solidarity--if only their goals were true.

[punpirate]

65. While we often decry the state of the news...

... or the state of education today, we're not wholly uninformed, nor are we wholly uneducated, so we're not wholly ignorant, either.

I see worry and fear in educated, enlightened people, as well, although perhaps for different reasons than those of the general public.

So, if there's a generalized fear in society, and as you say, that's directly related to ignorance, what's that missing knowledge, and what's the nature of the fear?

Cheers.

[bbgrunt]

45. Interesting question

Reminds me of one of the major questions in "Bowling for Columbine"....why do we bolt our doors and load up on assault weapons while Canadians don't? Do we feel unworthy of the bounty we have?

Do we feel guilt because that bounty is not equitably shared?

Does our emphasis on individual responsibilty rather than a more shared social economy make us more aware of our vulnerability?

I think we all have a deep seated fear that we have overdone it and violated our stewardship of the earth and know that retribution is coming in the form of collapse of ecosystems and climate. Maybe we're all in denial and trying to displace this fear by being afraid of enemies we can name other than ourselves.

[punpirate]

68. Others today have mentioned that violation...

... of stewardship, and that we recognize that the bounty, as you say, hasn't been equitably shared.

How does that recognition square with other contentions that we're the most insulated society in the world? That news from the outside doesn't get in? That we really don't notice what's happening beyond our borders?

Cheers.

[Tommymac]

95. Excellent source to view for

a good discussion of the 'Fear" factor in our US society. The cartoon sequence is especially thought provoking, though perhaps very simplistic.

I uinderstand why we are scared .... fear is promoted 24/7 by the media in entertainment and news shows and books and music....

But I too wonder why our American society is so vulnerable to this fear mongering...other societies both historically and in current times seem much more resistant to this approach....

[BewilderedCitizen]

46. Corporate Media

I think most people are afraid because they're being told they should be afraid 24/7 by corporate media. I don't think most are genuinely afraid anymore this long after 9/11, but "acting" afraid is easy and it's the acceptable patriotic emotion. As far as the duct tape and plastic, that would have been hilarious if it was a skit on SNL. Instead, it was sad because that was the administration's best advice they could give the people.

The film Bowling for Columbine does a pretty good job of showing how we're being taught to be afraid on a constant basis. Why that's happening is the real question. Is it as simple as fear sells? I doubt it. The neocon agenda relies on the public being afraid.

Personally, my only real fear is the direction the country is heading, particularly since this administration came to power. I'm afraid of how long it's going to take to turn things around, and what this country is going to be like for my daughter. I worry about her economic possibilities, her lack of personal freedom, her exposure to social darwinism, etc. A couple of years ago, my main concern was getting her through college. Even though that's still my main goal, I'm starting to wonder how much it's really going to matter.

If I could only pick one main thing to be afraid of, it would be my fear of corporate media and it's influence and control on society. Until that's fixed, I don't see how things are going to get any better.

[newyawker99]

49. Hi BewilderedCitizen!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Individualist]

57. Winner answer!

The sheeple obey their teevee, and their teevee tells them to be afraid. Welcome!

[punpirate]

70. Very likely...

... but why is the tv telling them to be afraid? And has it always been that way, or is this more recent?

Some people have said, for example, fear sells. Any ideas about what's being sold?

Cheers.

[Individualist]

72. If you have to ask why,

then you need to learn more about media complicity with the White House cabal. As for what's being sold, the answer is obvious - propoganda.

[punpirate]

79. I have my own opinions and ideas...

... I'm just asking you for yours. :)

Cheers.

[punpirate]

69. Yeah, I think a lot of people have the same impression...

... as do you. I certainly think so, because the media are so prominent in most people's daily lives.

But, let me ask this. I refer to us as being the most heavily-armed country on the planet (which is undeniably true). But, that's not a recent phenomenon. It's been growing and building for some time now.

If your main fear or concern is corporate media influence on society, when did you begin feeling this way?

Cheers.

[BewilderedCitizen]

84. Only recently.

That's not to say that it hasn't been going on longer than that, but I'm embarrassed to say I was one of it's victims until around the time of the last election.

When I finally found out the state the media is in, it blew my mind. I considered myself a pretty well informed person... but I had no idea. I mean, I had a pretty good idea that I wasn't always being told the truth, but it turned out to be much worse than I thought. Suddenly coming to this realization showed me how powerful the corporate media machine can be.

As far as being the most heavily armed, I believe this was covered in Bowling for Columbine. Canada has more guns per capita than the US, yet they aren't as afraid as we are. The majority (at least the ones questioned by MM) don't even lock their doors at night.

I'm not sure there's a relationship between how heavily armed you are, and how afraid you are. Unless there's evidence to support that the heavily armed people went and bought their guns specifically because they were afraid.

[punpirate]

88. I was thinking of...

... heavily-armed in a national sense (biggest military), rather than as a nation of individuals with guns. Would that change your answer?

Cheers.

[BewilderedCitizen]

93. It's all in the perception.

I don't have any facts to back it up, but my opinion is that people, as a society, are afraid because they're being told to be afraid. They may be told this either directly or indirectly. I doubt their fear level is directly (or indirectly) proportional to how heavily armed they are.

I think if the media chose to, they could have just as easily convinced the majority of the country that there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of.

If people see the same stories in the newspaper, on their evening news, and hear it on talk radio during their drive to work, then that just confirms to them that what they're being told is the truth. Anyone who thinks otherwise must be paranoid.

[napi21]

47. People tend to get scared when they are told ALL THE TIME

how dangerous things are, and how vulnerable they all are!

I'm not one of them, but my ex DIL was scared to get her mail when the anthrax scare was around, scared to go to DT Atlanta because of terrorists hitting big cities, scared to fly, well, just everything. She kept asking aren't you afraid? I'd say NO! I'm way too arrogant to let some idiots make me change the way I want to live. I'm gonna die from something some day, and I seriously doubt it's going to be from a terrorists actions!

[Just Me]

50. I believe it has something to do with "what is" being in direct conflict,.

,...with what people believe is supposed to be. They don't have the control over or rewards they expected from their lives. They were taught that, if you do A, B and C, then you will get D. Instead, they have gotten F.

In my opinion, the perception of a loss of control makes people more vulnerable to anxiety.

[punpirate]

73. Yeah, that's of interest...

... can you say something about what those As, Bs, Cs, Ds and Fs are, though? Is it something as simple as people not being happy? If so, are there roots to that unhappiness, etc.? Or is more complex that that?

Cheers.

[marions ghost]

52. A good question...

seems to me that fear is common among both liberals and conservatives today, tho their methods of dealing with it are totally different. Most people if pressed, would have to admit that there is no such thing as real security in any sense, not physical, not economic, not social or familial, not metaphysical. Maybe it's because we now know all too well how things really work that we feel increased fear. All sorts of reactions to fear exist on the same continuum--denial, avoidance, neutrality, resistance, opposition to oppressors, aggression, criminal compliance, cultism.

If we are not going to be manipulated by fear or fear-mongers, how do we identify and control, even overcome our fears?

[punpirate]

74. Yours is also a good question...

... but let me back up and ask about this intriguing sentence of yours: "Maybe it's because we now know all too well how things really work that we feel increased fear."

I'd like to hear more about that, with some examples, if you can.

Cheers.

[libodem]

53. Bowling for Columbine

talks a lot about amping up the fear ratio so that people will agree to any manipulation the government wants to foist upon them.

[amazona]

55. fear is a natural mechanism

Everyone in every country in every time or place was scared. Maybe "alert" would be a better word. The relaxed easy-going cave dude was sabre-tooth tiger food. Today's relaxed easy-going dude who takes his own sweet clueless time to cross the street or be aware of his surroundings is going to be under the grill of a rig or pickpocketed or mugged. Our brains were designed to be constantly alert to potential dangers so that we can avoid them.

I think many people who live VERY comfortable lives and who are not street smart have all these silly fears because the brain is designed to look for stuff to be aware of -- and if you are snug in your gated community with your 401(K) at the wheel of your Hummer -- then your brain can only latch onto invented fears like "the horror of juvenile delinquents caused by comic books" (remember that old 1950s fear) or the evils of people with bad teeth who are probably Meth addicts out to burn down the neighborhood.

People are going to fear something. It can be silly or it can be real or often it can be exaggerated since the brain is not a computer and we do not have enough information to calculate to the decimal exactly how much we should fear any given risk or danger. People are properly afraid of terrorists who make it clear that they don't mind a bit about killing us; the question is to what extent we can harness our fears to spur us to take action. Alas, we all have different answers to these questions. I want every person and package on MY flight properly screened and if this means I get screened (and it does and has) fine. My GOP friend has told me out-right that he would be happy to take the chance of being in the plane that blows up if all screening were stopped today.

I believe this to be because, kind as he is in many ways, he doesn't think it will be HIS plane that is destroyed, and he doesn't really much care about a plane full of strangers. Empathy, like fear, requires imagination.

[marions ghost]

58. can fears be overcome

...without becoming as arrogant as your friend who has no concern for others--in his certainty that nothing bad will ever happen to the plane that he is on? Can we control fear without stifling imagination?

[punpirate]

77. But, is it a case of too much imagination?

A lot of people have mentioned "Bowling for Columbine" here, and one of the central points Michael Moore makes in that film is that there's a difference in attitude between Canadians and Americans, and he suggests that Americans are more fearful than Canadians (although he, like me, is at somewhat of a loss to explain why that is :) ).

When I first asked this question, I put it into the context of the US being the most heavily-armed nation in the world, and wondered if fear were, in part, driving that need.

You say everyone in every country in every time or place was scared, but if Michael Moore's premise is correct, there is a difference, and it's a bit difficult to tell if that difference is one of kind, or degree, or both. I do think there's a difference between being scared--which I sort of conceive of as a momentary phenomenon--and living in fear, or living with fear, which many here have described.

If that is so, is that a product, as you imply, of an over-active American imagination? Or is it something else?

Cheers.

[amazona]

102. I do think imagination is involved

Both of you have made good points.

Without some ability to imagine alternative futures, some bad, fear and worry could not exist. However, in such a world, we also could not imagine preventable problems and take steps to avert them.

Moore speculates in BFC that we have industries that profit from over-stimulating our imagination and therefore our fears. Some felt he went over-the-top in the Charlton Heston interview, while I felt it fit perfectly in the framework of this movie for that reason. What industry does more to stimulate the imagination than the movies, right?

But I'm not sure how far we can go in saying Americans are more afraid because they have overly-stimulated imaginations. There is something else we can't quite put our fingers on. Moore can't put his fingers on it either, there's an extended riff in the film between Moore and another guy saying basically over and over again, "what is it? what is it? I don't know. I don't know."


I do think there's a difference between being scared--which I sort of conceive of as a momentary phenomenon--and living in fear, or living with fear, which many here have described.



This I don't really agree with. In the United States, if you are female, you live with fear, or you are dead or victimized. Period. You are always prey, and the predators are always out there. You just have to be on the alert, at all times. There is always a computer program running in the back of your brain to monitor those around you and keep a look-out for potential bad guys and dangers. This is "living with fear," but it is not a negative thing just because it is a permanent part of human existence. You just get used to it if you love life and want to live it with minimum contact with creeps. Now women have become savvy, more hardened targets, so the predators seem to be switching their attention to the children. At one time it was just good parenting to let your kids roam free exploring the neighborhood. I roamed, we all did. Now, because all the other kids are wary, protected, and watched, the few children who do roam have a much higher risk of being picked off.

Not sure where I'm going with this but to a certain extent if everyone else is alert and you're the one impala on the savannah who is all relaxed...your odds of being cheetah lunch just went sky-high.

Being scared momentarily is for the movies and sudden shocks. Living with fear is part of life.

You just have to manage your fear so that it does its job. You can't let it be the boss.

[Canuckistanian]

56. What I'm afraid of is overreaction

Al-Qaeda and the whole muslim world for that matter, has no standing armies, no air force, no navy, no security or intelligence forces (of any note) and no real leadership (sorry, Zarqawi).

But the wingnuts, in typical wingnut mode, are screaming about "muslim subterfuge" and "collaboration with liberals".
And they're increasingly looking inwards, straining to find any flyspeck of information which would somehow indict "libruls" in this "conspiracy".

And while they're at it, they'll bring in "social reforms" meant to "clean up" our modern indecadent society. And they don't care who they have to run over to get it.

Parlaimentary procedure, judicial independence, chuch/state separation and freedom of information are the true victims of this conservative jihad.

But now, stung by democratic opposition, loss of popularity, failure to vanquish their enemies at home and abroad has made them desperate.
Terri Schiavo, the judicial fights and massive PR loss on the war front and now, Rove's jeopardy has made them mean.

But they're not finished yet. My prediction? Look out for worse.
More draconian law restricitions. More suspension of rights. Less oversight of government in the name of "security".

The rhetoric is heating up. The "true believers" are dwindling, but still very much in power. A compliant media still slumbers, but emits a grunt or two. It's encouraging.

But it may not be enough to prevent further damage.

[punpirate]

81. That pretty well describes the political situation...

... but what are the fears underlying it all? What do think those fears are, and why are they there?

Cheers.

[XemaSab]

59. I'm more scared

of environmental damage than I am of terrorist attacks.

Most people don't know enough about the environment to know what's in danger of being lost.

They hear "global warming" and they think it means they'll have to spend a few dollars more every month on air conditioning, when there's potential for a wide and colorful variety of human catastrophes, from desertification to a new ice age.

People also don't know much about the environment where they live. Most people can't even identify 20 local birds or 10 local trees, so they have no clue what makes a hillside of native coastal chaparral different from a hillside of scotch broom.

People don't know anything about farming, pesticides, fertilizers, or the water cycle either. All they know is that the big chemical companies tell them that they'll have a nicer lawn if they dump a ton of round-up everywhere.

The real dread comes in the fact that we're all complicit in it.

Such a downer.

[Swede]

67. Scare a bunch of people,stock market tanks,buy up all the bargains.

Stock market bounces back,you make a killing.

[punpirate]

82. It's all about money, then?

You think this is a manipulation of the population in order to affect the markets. That's very possible, but it certainly leads to the question of who's doing it. Who do you think is doing it?

Cheers.

[Swede]

101. Maybe this is just a happy offshoot for some people in the know.

Follow the money as they say,but who will be the investigators?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

71. Simple.

People are scared because they're afraid. Nothing deep. Humans, at heart, are frightened little beasts. Fox can goad them with a stick but it doesn't change the inherent nature of the trembly bi-pod.

Goes back to the cave and burgeoning "awareness."

The more important question, and the one that will yield vastly more significant results, is why are some NOT scared.

[punpirate]

83. You're suggesting that this is a more or less universal condition...

... but as some others have pointed out here, Michael Moore suggests that living in fear is not a constant in other countries. Is that what you mean by asking why some are "NOT scared," or did you mean something else by that?

And, since you raise it as a more important question, why is it, in your view, that some do not live in fear? :)

Cheers.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

100. Some do not live in fear because they understand and accept

their plight. No crutches needed. Undoubtedly, there are many societies that have larger majorities walking on their own two feet, trembly though they may be.

[Beam Me Up]

75. I don't know what scares "them" but I sure as hell know what scares ME

And that is the prospect that just about EVERYTHING we know, or think we know, is wrong. We are swimming in a sea of lies so thick, so assumed to be true, that we can never find out what the truth is -- even on the most fundamental level of our own being.

Shouldn't I ought to be able to KNOW THE TRUTH OF MYSELF as I am right now in this moment, directly? What really scares me is that almost no one wants to know this truth, this truth of one's self -- at least that is the way it seems to me. Everyone is so busy creating their "self image" which they then project outward into others in hopes that it will get reflected back to them favorably.

I don't know who -- or, more accurately "what" -- I am; but at least I know that I do not know.

Nevertheless, I maintain the belief that it is possible to know. Again, know directly, without the intercession of preverbal mental operations. I believe it is possible to sense myself here, now. Unfortunately it doesn't last very long or doesn't go very deep.

Why is that?

What deflects my penetrating inner attention? Must this, too, be included in the knowledge of myself; the knowledge that vast aspects of what I call "myself" are, in fact, NOT myself at all?

Hey, you asked, right?

What really scares me is that few people are asking these most fundamental, personal questions. If we do not know who and what we are, if we aren't even searching inwardly for a direct observation of ourselves, how can we ever hope to know the truth beyond the boundaries of our skins?

You know those sheep that went over that cliff one after the other in Turkey the other day? That's what scares me.

[punpirate]

85. Interesting...

... you seem to be saying this is entirely a matter of metaphysics, rather than external forces. Is that true of every society, or is it peculiarly American?

Cheers.

[Beam Me Up]

89. Not exactly. The external forces are real enough but the external forces

arise out of our own lack of self knowledge. Again, I'm not talking about so much an intellectual construct that we might call "knowledge," but on a direct experiential awareness that arises as a result of increasing the range of our attention.

I'm also skeptical of the word "metaphysical." I certainly have used it but I'm cautious around it because what I'm really speaking about IS physical; but what I mean by that may be more than what most people mean. For example, one could speak of certain ideas having a kind of weight. They influence how people actually behave in the world and have a powerful and long lasting influence in physical human affairs. "Civilization" itself is an example of one such idea.

The question is, are we civilized? And, of course, that begs the question; what do we mean by that.

To me it seems quite obvious that we are not -- but I'm sure most people would readily disagree.

That we are not TRULY scares me!

:scared:

Edit html, clarity

[tocqueville]

76. IMHO, it's because there was such a long time that the US had

"war" on their soil

9/11 was a shock, the "safest" country on earth was hit by a bunch of "nobodies"...

the massive scale made a difference from previous "minor" bombings

it was not "abstract" as the cold war...

and the administration did exactly the contrary of what the British are doing now : no "back to business", but "WMDs in 45 min", "mushroom clouds", "we must get at them before they get us" etc... Alert levels red every 3 weeks etc...

But there is an underlying aspect in the American culture to identify itself in a fight with an enemy, always. So if you see enemies everywhere, no wonder you get scared in the end...

[punpirate]

86. If you would...

... please, say more about your last couple of sentences. I'm curious about why you think that is part of the culture.

Cheers.

[tocqueville]

92. read this

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/052605.html

my turn to nap...

I'll be back

[sandnsea]

80. Addicted to thrills

And fear is an adrenalin rush. Some are into the victim aspect, some are into the fanatic aspect, some are into the bully aspect, some the domination. But it all goes back to what fear does for people, it's intoxicating.

[punpirate]

87. Sort of...

... paranoia is a fun hobby? :)

Does this mean that we're scaring ourselves, intentionally, like kids do?

Cheers.

[sandnsea]

96. Beginning to think so

What else explains white girl murdermania and all the rest of it. Sometimes it's good to intensify a problem to make fixing it urgent, it's used in therapy sometimes. We've gone way overboard with it to the point that people love to wallow in the fear and paranoia. Terrorism and mayhem on the right, environmental disaster and mayhem on the left.

I can't stand it anymore.

[punpirate]

97. Nathanael West has a line...

... The Day of the Locust that goes: "Nothing can ever be violent enough to make taut their slack minds and bodies."

He was talking about the penchant of the people of Los Angeles in the `30s for car wrecks, plane crashes, fires, anything dramatic and tragic.

I wonder if that isn't part of what you describe.

Cheers.

[anarchy1999]

90. Love you lots, pp.

I am sick to death of it all.
The good news is the worm is turning.

Just a couple of days ago on a major traffic way, at a stop light my husband was honked at because of the stickers on our car, one is for DU, one is for www.reclaimdemocracy.org and the other is a little yellow ribbon with bring them home on it now!. A woman behind my husband honked her horn incessantly behind him and he could not figure out why until she gave him a thumbs up sign and then the woman in a car next to her did the same thing. What a trip and a fun ride. We've been driven off the road for two years for the same. What a treat, finally.

As I said the worm, it may be turning.

Once again, it is such a treat to see you here! Love you lots PP!

[punpirate]

94. That's encouraging...

... of course, it's kind of a herd mentality, still, but at least the herd is moving away from the cliff and not toward it. :)

Cheers.

[flyarm]

91. if people are told over and over again to be

afraid , and then you add a boggie man, and it is said over and over again it becomes a conditioning. a state of mind.

[davlin]

99. What I Think...

About 9/11.
--------Could have been prevented. Why were these hijackers even allowed on the planes with knives in the first place. Why all the botched intelligence.

About the Patriot Act.
---------Big Brother is watching.

About al-Qaeda.
---------Quit interfering in the affairs of the Middle East and they will leave us alone.

About George W. Bush.
----------Impeach him NOW!!!!

About why, in a period of nominal peace (no official, declared wars), everybody's scared.
-----------Stupid people believe the government's propaganda.

The fear campaign is no different than the fear campaign of Nazi Germany.

[tocqueville]

103. http://www.werenotafraid.com/

[lostnfound]

104. Afraid of having to re-think their understanding of the world on their own

nt

[lostnfound]

105. Afraid of facing up to the fact that they have been fooled, & are helpless

in the hands of bad and powerful people

[punpirate]

106. Thank you all for comments... but, I have another question...

... that relates to my original request, which might not have been explained adequately.

A lot of people have described fear in terms of the recent past--post-2001--but I'm mostly curious about fear in the country over the long term.

Let me refine the question--how did the American people come to fear the outside world so much after WWII that they would allow their legislators to continually spend more and more on arms, until we have reached the point that we spend more on our military than all other countries combined?

After all, we're the only country in the industrialized world that doesn't have universal health care. We probably sacrificed that for defense spending. Why?

We are constantly led to believe that spending more on defense makes us safer, and yet, the evidence suggests otherwise. Why do we continue to believe this fiction (if it is, in fact, a fiction--you're welcome to disagree on that, too)?

Cheers.