To live in fear is to lose personal control

Social Studies - Published Monday August 25th, 2008

Fear sells. We all realize this.

I happened to live in the darkest circle of the Eastern Townships during the Quebec Ice Storm. Within weeks following the return to normalcy, everyone went out and bought a generator.

Since a storm like that happens only rarely, and no one could remember another one as bad, the need for a generator was probably not a "real" thing -- but rather a way to produce a sense of security to overcome an irrational fear.

What is funny, and was recently brought to mind by a radio program is that the media uses our fear to make stories more "exciting" and that this rarely pans out in the way we are expecting.

For a recent example, take the Olympics in China -- where the smog was going to kill the athletes, the food would be bad, there would be overcrowding and even terrorism.

Not only have athletes turned out some of the best performances ever, but everything has run smoothly, with the best facilities and smoothest overall "feel" of many recent Olympics. It will be hard to top this one.

It makes good news lead up though -- it gets you interested. Fear is a powerful motivator. Think about it. After 9/11 fear was what caused everyone to accept tighter security measures, less personal freedom, and even the multibillion dollar costs of wars against imaginary foes.

And before everyone gets upset, what I am reacting to is the original declaration of "War on Terrorism" which is about as vague as you can possibly get unless you declare war on random people whose name starts with the letter p.

Here is the thing; there was an attack on American soil, which somehow upped the ante so incredibly that right now, as of this moment, no one anywhere is safe anymore.

How ridiculous is that?

There have been terrorist attacks for as long as there have been political systems. Brutus and the lads killing Caesar was a terrorist attack.

However, we were meant to feel so afraid that the next bomb, the next poison gas, the next airplane falling from the sky was going to be in our own backyard that each of us was willing to do anything to make sure we felt safe.

In the meantime; we have destroyed the world's economy, drawn more battle lines in the sand than ever before and created constant unrest among anyone who thinks about the future.

Just like the Olympics; just like Y2K.

Do you remember that; the end of the world?

Nothing actually comes from these apocalyptic scenarios.

Well, the cynic in me has to say nothing except an incredible amount of money lining the pockets of the richest companies in the world -- arms suppliers. I love the conspiracy theorists that point out that Dick Cheney was VP of Halliburton -- the world's largest construction company with links to the U.S. military and perhaps the CIA; and stood to make billions on a war which is all about oil.

But I digress. My point is fear.

Specifically, the fact that our decisions are often based on fear, and that people like to play on our fears to get us to spend more, and perhaps do less.

It is just as true on the local level. If they take out the causeway the fish will die, the pollution will rise, the lake will disappear, those Dieppe people will get a marina, the tidal bore will wash away Assumption Boulevard, the sky will fall. . .

If they build a casino the crime rate will go up, the mafia will take over; the government will take all our money; people will never come downtown, we will all go broke from gambling, the wrong sort of tourist will come.

There is always a kernel of truth in any statement of doom.

It is possible that the sky will fall tomorrow. It is possible that we will die of a stroke while watching Jeopardy tonight.

But if we continue to live only out of fear, we are not living freely. Our choices are only our own when we make them because of informed, real data.

And there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who are counting on the fact that you will just go along with the fear mongering and therefore not hold anyone accountable.

Anyone who ever read 1984 by George Orwell will recognize that a lot of the science fiction about a paranoid future that he developed is actually true now. In the story the government controls, or tries to, all thought. It re-writes history and edits language to make the poor innocent bystanders toe the party line.

It, in fact, is engaged in a war (perhaps) that makes all of this loss of freedom necessary. There are hints throughout, however, that the war is only necessary to give the government a reason to be totally in control.

Far be it from me to think that there are thought police out there trying to control our very desires.

I just try to break myself away from the doomsayers every now and again because for the most part I never should have wasted time worrying about the warnings anyway.

We humans have an incredible ability to make the best out of any circumstance. And despite how it seems, there are billions of people out there, and mere hundreds that actually try and do anything to hurt others.

The world is just not that bad of a place, and we are far better off celebrating what we have.