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America’s culture of fear is very much alive

For well over a decade, fear seems to have assumed the role of national pastime in America. I can hardly think of a time when fear did not have some prominent place in American public life.

Whether it be terrorism, economic ruin or the ongoing Ebola virus scare, there always seems to be something to terrify Americans.

I do not mean to suggest we should not be concerned about these things, but the way fears of these things have manifested themselves has endangered our discourse and been wholly counterproductive.

Ebola and the Islamic State probably provide the best examples of how this culture of fear has been operating lately. In each case, Americans were confronted with what they perceived to be immediate threats that required swift, drastic solutions.

As an examination of polling data and the facts about these issues shows, Americans were misguided in many of the opinions they held about these two threats. Currently, 65 percent see the Islamic State as a “very” or even “extremely important” threat to America, according to an Oct. 24 Associated Press-GFK poll.

In September, around the time America started bombing Syria, 90 percent of Americans believed ISIS was a threat to the U.S. Seventy percent believed it had the capacity to carry out attacks within America.

Yet, there is much evidence to indicate the Islamic State does not pose the type of threat Americans believe it does. The American intelligence community concluded in September, when America was broadening the fight against the Islamic State, that the Islamic State did not present an “immediate threat,” according to The New York Times. President Barack Obama even stressed that no specific terrorist threats against America had been uncovered.

In the case of Ebola, a Washington Post-ABC poll showed 67 percent of Americans support a travel ban on flights from West Africa. Meanwhile, most experts say a travel ban would be ineffective for a number of reasons, including the inhibitory effect such a ban would have on treating the problem at its source, according to The New York Times.

What is so worrying about these fears – born out of misconceptions – is the effect these conclusions have on discourse surrounding important issues. When people are afraid, they do not think rationally about the problems which confront them.

In the aftermath of 9/11, the great fear that the attack understandably provoked was manipulated to enable a series of disastrous policy decisions, namely the Iraq War.

I wish with the experience of those years, seeing how those feelings were manipulated, we could grow more skeptical as a nation about how those in power can use those feelings for their own purposes.

Perhaps we have grown skeptical. Perhaps the type of fear we see around these contemporary issues is not as bad as it was a decade ago. If the past few months has shown anything, however, it is that the culture of fear exists in America.

And it is still as problematic as it ever was.

Griffin, a junior journalism major from Madison, is an opinion writer.

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  • S

    S. WrightOct 29, 2014 at 12:35 pm

    Kevin, if we currently had a leader who was more engaged and knew how to communicate with us in an honest, sincere way, the country might not be so fearful. The President of the United States has always taken on the role of the “daddy” of the country. A recent poll today indicated that 80% currently feel fearful and don’t believe that our leader knows how to handle the situations that we face. If he were more aggressive in his intelligence gathering and reacting to that information before things happen, we probably wouldn’t be dealing with the ISIS threat today. Obama was aware of the formation of ISIS (many formerly from Alqaeda) a year ago and did nothing about it. Obama’s reaction to ISIS, ebola, Benghazi, the IRS scandal, Fast & Furious, the NHS), is to ignor/downplay it for a while and see if the people (his voter base) get upset. That’s when he’ll remark that he didn’t know about it until he saw it on TV, and then, maybe, he’ll speak to the people and react. No one seems to be held accountable – unless they run into the White House unannounced. Another thing to consider is lack of preparedness for the job of President. Obama was a community organizer, and then a Senator for 768 days. He speaks very eloquently – but these days, talk is cheap.

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  • D

    David BaileyOct 28, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    As a military retiree, I must comment on the fallacy of this opinion. While not ALL Americans are threatened, SOME Americans are most assuredly threatened. The military, and our national leaders, are charged with the task of keeping ALL Americans safe. So while most of us will not have to face Ebola or terrorism first hand, we should all still be concerned if other Americans are at risk. We rise and fall as a nation. We are one. Our leaders understand that and they strive to protect each and every one of us – as it should be.

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