Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 1:01am
The end of The Fear Industry?
Column: All Paths
You know, fear governs most of what we do in our lives. Where we choose to live, our professions, whom we date and marry, and how we vote are in many cases the result of fear-based thinking. Fear-based thinking leads to fear-based decisions and prescriptive living. Prescriptive living simply means that you choose to live your life based on the dictates of others. Yes, the overwhelming majority of us are not living the lives we want to live because of fear. Fear-based thinking and living on a personal level and collective level limit our potential.
I probably could write at least 10 books on the impact that fear plays in our decisions and how we live. Since I am AFRAID that I don't have enough time in my life to do that, I have decided to write about fear in American politics in this column.
Fear is the main staple of American politics. Candidates use it to motivate us to get to the polls and pull the lever for them every election year. They also use it to govern after they are elected. And we, the gullible and easily duped American electorate, fall for it every time.
If you don't believe me, go back and look at Papa Bush's Willie Horton ad in the 1988 presidential campaign. Or you can look at the role that race baiting played in most of the presidential campaigns in the last century. Our current president and his use of 9/11 is the greatest example of a fear-based approach in politics that I have witnessed in my life.
There is also an entire industry in this country whose sole purpose is to keep us in a state of fear. We call them interest groups, lobbyists, talking heads and radio personalities. They provide support for candidates who are willing to advance their fear-based politics. Let's lump them all together, including the politicians, and dub them "The Fear Industry."
Having said all of this, I want you to consider something. What would happen if the American electorate decided to no longer be willing prey for The Fear Industry? I will tell you what would happen. An entire industry and generation of politicians, activists, interest groups and media personalities would be rendered obsolete. These institutional players, who have made a living and maintained power by selling fear to the American electorate, would have to find something else to do or change their approach.
That is why I have enjoyed watching the response to Barack Obama's unifying language and approach to his campaign by The Fear Industry. They don't quite know what to do with him, because they have become so used to the rules of engagement in campaigns and politics being based on fear. Yes, they are bewildered. Hey, could they be afraid? Afraid that the politics of fear and enemy thinking might just become obsolete? Even if Obama is not elected, he has altered the fear-based paradigm in American politics.
I think the success of the Obama campaign affirms that many Americans are sick and tired of a political culture and institutional approach to politics that fosters an "us against them" form of enemy thinking, which creates hostility and divides us. Perhaps they have been sick and tired of this approach for a long time and were waiting for a voice to call them to action. Well, that voice has arrived and is being heard.
So here is what I want you to do. First, affirm that you want our country to grow and achieve its fullest potential by not responding to any politician, interest group or media personality who uses a fear-based approach. Second, tell your family, friends and neighbors that you will no longer be easy prey for fear-based politics and ask them to join you. And third, write the Obama campaign and tell them I said to send you a button that reads, "NO MORE FEAR."
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Rev. Jay Speights has an MA in public policy and is an interfaith minister and the main U.N. representative for The New Seminary in New York. You can learn more about his work at The New Seminary website or at http://jayspeights.blogspot.com/. His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org}jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Jay Speights.
I probably could write at least 10 books on the impact that fear plays in our decisions and how we live. Since I am AFRAID that I don't have enough time in my life to do that, I have decided to write about fear in American politics in this column.
Fear is the main staple of American politics. Candidates use it to motivate us to get to the polls and pull the lever for them every election year. They also use it to govern after they are elected. And we, the gullible and easily duped American electorate, fall for it every time.
If you don't believe me, go back and look at Papa Bush's Willie Horton ad in the 1988 presidential campaign. Or you can look at the role that race baiting played in most of the presidential campaigns in the last century. Our current president and his use of 9/11 is the greatest example of a fear-based approach in politics that I have witnessed in my life.
There is also an entire industry in this country whose sole purpose is to keep us in a state of fear. We call them interest groups, lobbyists, talking heads and radio personalities. They provide support for candidates who are willing to advance their fear-based politics. Let's lump them all together, including the politicians, and dub them "The Fear Industry."
Having said all of this, I want you to consider something. What would happen if the American electorate decided to no longer be willing prey for The Fear Industry? I will tell you what would happen. An entire industry and generation of politicians, activists, interest groups and media personalities would be rendered obsolete. These institutional players, who have made a living and maintained power by selling fear to the American electorate, would have to find something else to do or change their approach.
That is why I have enjoyed watching the response to Barack Obama's unifying language and approach to his campaign by The Fear Industry. They don't quite know what to do with him, because they have become so used to the rules of engagement in campaigns and politics being based on fear. Yes, they are bewildered. Hey, could they be afraid? Afraid that the politics of fear and enemy thinking might just become obsolete? Even if Obama is not elected, he has altered the fear-based paradigm in American politics.
I think the success of the Obama campaign affirms that many Americans are sick and tired of a political culture and institutional approach to politics that fosters an "us against them" form of enemy thinking, which creates hostility and divides us. Perhaps they have been sick and tired of this approach for a long time and were waiting for a voice to call them to action. Well, that voice has arrived and is being heard.
So here is what I want you to do. First, affirm that you want our country to grow and achieve its fullest potential by not responding to any politician, interest group or media personality who uses a fear-based approach. Second, tell your family, friends and neighbors that you will no longer be easy prey for fear-based politics and ask them to join you. And third, write the Obama campaign and tell them I said to send you a button that reads, "NO MORE FEAR."
— — —
Rev. Jay Speights has an MA in public policy and is an interfaith minister and the main U.N. representative for The New Seminary in New York. You can learn more about his work at The New Seminary website or at http://jayspeights.blogspot.com/. His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org}jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Jay Speights.