In the introduction to The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things, author Barry Glassner goes into a concise overview of the topics addressed in the preceding chapters. Glassner starts with a general and overall definition of fear and how it relates to people everywhere. The author argues that people need to learn how to see faults in their fear and rationalize correct ways to react to them. Glassner also argues that fears and reactions to fears, when over exaggerated or taken out of proportion, can create harm amongst others. The news and media have a heavy influence on placing topics and stories that lead to human fear, and have a more likely chance to engage viewers with positive change, yet do not. Glassner asks why fears and anxieties place …show more content…
People place more of a negative bias towards the children of teen parents than they do children of those married or with adult parents. Yet, there is no difference between children that come from either single or teen parents and parents who are married or older. Creating fear mongering with mothers distracts attention from the other half of the child's parents, fathers, who also affect children. Glassner emphasizes that making screwup parents seem like they are in larger numbers increases the amount of people who think they are a liability. Whereas, they are in fact not bad parents or people, but instead have struggles when it comes to raising a child or consistency with their provisions for their children. Although these children are not at current risk, they can become more prone to risk in the future. Chapter five focuses on how media and politics create fears for African American men. In this section, Glassner discusses how “police inattention is one of several factors that journalists accurately cite to account for why white crime victims receive more media attention than black victims” (Glassner
Anderson’s theory examined African Americans living in America’s inner cities that are driven to follow the “street code” and work to maintain respect, loyalty, and their own self-image. The “street code” Anderson is referring to is “a cultural adaptation” which is the cause of violent crime in America’s inner cities (Anderson Article PDF, 3). Since these people are living in mainly impoverished neighborhoods with easy access to drugs and guns, as well as high rates of crime and violence, “everyone feels isolated and alienated from the rest of America” (Vold, 187). Anderson continues to distinguish between “decent” people and “street people.” Those who are “decent” families live in accordance with a “civil code” that upholds values in comparison with the rest of society such as maintaining a job, obtaining an education, protecting their children and following the law. Additionally, “street” families tend to fend for themselves, and when young, grow up without adult supervision and are often abused. This alone causes a dangerous environment because children then, “learn that to solve any kind of interpersonal problem one must quickly resort to hitting or other violent behavior” (Anderson Article PDF, 5). When brought up in an inner city “street” family, racism is a leading factor that causes the youth to construct a negative outlook on the rest of society. When these inner city, lo...
"The Final Call." Black America's Painful Epidemic: Children without Fathers. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
"Culture of Fear" is a book that describes that it is our perceptions that dangers have increased, and so much the actual level of risk. Glassner explains in all of his chapters how people and organizations use our fears as a way to increase their profit. Glassner also states about the prices we pay for our panics and all the time and energy we spend worrying. Americans are afraid because of the media's broadband expose of crime, violence, drugs and diseases.
The author questions the fact, whether African American men are actually a criminal threat or a victims of society. “Black men are typically constructed as criminals when in truth they much more likely to be victimized by American Society” (BMCV, pg. 1). Most fail to realize that African American men can commit crime but they also can be victims of crime and a majority of the time they are the victims. Another idea he questioned is, why are more African American men considered to be perpetrators of crime rather than victims. “There is profuse media coverage of violent crime by African American men, however, the media pay disproportionately more attention to whites and women” (BMCV, pg. 2). The more the media reports on crimes committed by
Fear motivates many people to act upon matters, right or wrong. This emotion has been important in many events in both works of literature, and in the real world. It has forced military geniuses into retreat, and influenced them to plan another method of attack. Fear can be both a positive and a negative acting force in one’s life, a quality that can motivate one to success as well as to downfall.
African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites, it is projected that one in every three African Americans born are expected to go to prison. The consequences for black men have radiated out to their families. By 2000, more than 1 million black children had a father in jail or prison"(Coates pg.2). Men going to prison at such high rates has left many women to fend for themselves.
Fear is the emotional state that someone goes into when they feel threatened or endangered. The fact that we do not know everything makes us think that everything we do not know is feared. There are many stories that include the fear of the unknown. Each poem, story, and drama include some type of fear. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, “Hills Like White Elephants”, and “Poof” there is an extensive amount of fear for the unknown. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ernest Hemingway, and Lynn Nottage all used the fear to their advantage while writing and making an entertainment for the readers.
Fear influences people to make irrational decisions and take extreme measures. Often times, these actions are done to protect one’s reputation. Fear causes people to lie and manipulate to those they care about in order to escape what they are scared of most. Fear of failure has caused higher levels of anxiety, and has made society put blame on each other, rather than owning up to their mistakes. Fear can also cause one to forget one’s true identity and lose one’s values. There are two options that one can take when being faced with a fear: run away from the fear, or go through it and learn a valuable lesson in the end that will make you a stronger person. Fear is a harmful emotion that everyone has to go through in order to succeed.
In the words of Bertrand Russell, “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom” (Russell). Fear causes many problems in our lives. Fear influences many of a person’s actions and decisions. However, people usually regret the decisions or actions they made out of fear. Also, these actions and decisions can cause problems for those people in their future. Fear is a harmful emotion, for it clouds people’s judgement, disables them from taking action, and causes them to make decisions that they will regret later.
... is fundamentally a whole; however, many of us have lost touch with significant elements of our selves. Through listening to the information of our dreams and active imagination, we can contact and reintegrate our different parts. The goal of life is individuation, the idea of coming to know, giving expression to, and reconciling the diverse elements of the psyche.
Fear is an everyday emotion that the human race must face, and it can bring out the best and worst of us, but its how we choose to deal with it that truly defines us.
Considering the fact that America has more violence per capita than other established Western nations, this considerable exposure to violent acts has desensitized children leading them to become violent. Examining exposure to violence at a young age shows itself in our lives only and will you and you when the children become adolescents as statistics have shown that “homicide involving American teens have seen a 12% increase in violent crimes in 1984 to 1980.” American teens also have seen an increase in teen pregnancies “among young women under the age of fifteen,” showing that the family institution has not fulfilled its obligation to society by sexually regulating the children. The family institutions grip over children has diminished over the past 30 years due to the” rise of peer involvement and the message of defiance from mass media” has contributed to the loss of cohesiveness between parents and children.
Gulli, C. (2009, 10 19). Fear Factor. Maclean's, 122(40), p. 100. Retrieved April 30, 2014
Remember, when men cannot support their families legitimately, they will commit crimes to get money, and the family structure is weakened or broken when they eventually go to jail. This, in turn, destroys a child’s HOPE of a good future and leads to actions seeking “destructive, immediate gratification.” Further, this destruction of hope creates the vicious cycle that is now leading to an under-class of ever-increasing numbers. Almost 90% of the people in this country have no idea of the magnitude of this threat against Black Males and Black people in general. Yet, apart from us, most people simply do not care.
Modern society has made citizens victims of unnecessary fear that has grown more rapidly over time. In the podcast, the listener learns how fear caused one generation of children to receive a remarkable amount of less freedom than their parents had as children. In this study, crime rate and demographics were equivalent in both generations, however, parents had more access to news stories than before. This new information caused the parents to be afraid for their children's safety because of the possibility of the worst-case scenario. Although the instinct of fear can be a positive trait, today's culture teaches citizens to be more afraid than before.