Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid Of The Wrong Things

Fear is described by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary as "an unpleasant and often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger." Most often, fear has a protective function and is a perfectly healthy and natural response to danger. Many things can cause fear, some of them rational and some irrational. However, as Phil Barker explains in his essay for the website Beyond Intractability, fear can become unhealthy or irrational no matter what the cause. Barker explains that fear can be cultivated by one’s needs and the fear that those needs might not be met. In this vein, a common fear in regards to conflict is the fear of loss of identity or security, especially in marginalized groups that have strong ties to those identities, whether that be in their language, race, ethnicity or religion. These fears might include …show more content…
As the title suggests, Glassner talks about how Americans are influenced to fear certain things through a variety of factors, and how that fear can be used to achieve the goals of specific entities. Fear has a critical role in contemporary life because, as Barker discusses in his essay, fear is an extremely powerful motivator, and it is easy to manipulate and direct because, as described in the Mattil quote above, fear is always there. Glassner uses several examples of groups that influence fear to use to their advantage, including politicians, the media, and other organizations. One of the biggest influencers of fear by far in American society is the media. Glassner discusses several examples of specific fears that started out as small, individual cases that the media then took and blew out of proportion with wildly inaccurate statistics, sensational reporting, and exaggerated word choice (e.g. turning a few incidences of the kidnapping of children into an “epidemic” or