Barry Glassner The Culture Of Fear Analysis

Fear can be an influence on someone's descent into a bad situation. In the play The Crucible the Puritan town of Salem is under suspicion of witchcraft. When a group of girls is discovered dancing in the forest, their leader (Abigail) tries to cover it up by accusing people in the town of witchcraft. All the accusations of witchcraft result in many different events, including the arrival of Judge Danforth and Reverend Hale. If anyone were to be under suspicion they would be tried for a confession that they dealt with witchcraft, and if they didn’t confess they would be hanged. The characters in the play are conflicted with different types of fear that change their personality and causes them to act differently. Fear influences people to take extreme measures and act irrationally.

Miguel Gonzalez December 3rd, 2015 Sociology 1 Stephen Book Review: “The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things” The Culture of Fear originally published in 1999 but was updated and enlarged for its tenth anniversary edition in 2010. The author is Barry Glassner a former sociology professor and executive vice provost at the University of Southern California. He claims that many Americans’ concerns and fears are largely unfounded; therefore, his book is focused on the question of why America happens to be a nation where fear is highly captivated in most of our social media and seeks to find how and why people become fearful to certain aspects of society.

Engrossed in fear, many Americans are living under the false perceptions portrayed by the media. This tendency is due to the underestimated power the media has in over society. With all the different forms of access the media has, it is almost a second nature to accept what the media is portraying as true. Why is it that, according to the Polly Klaas Foundation, although the” majority of missing children in our country are runaways”, three out four parents fear that their children will be kidnapped? Or that according to Skeptical Inquirer, “not a single death or injury has been reported from a stranger poisoning Halloween candy since 1958”, yet parents still fear for their children? Or according to if you add up all the mentions in the press of the millions of Americans with heart disease, cancer, migraines, or other illnesses, you’d find that the total number of Americans supposedly afflicted with a serious disease is 543 million- a shocking number in a nation of around 322 million. “Scratch the surface of any pseudo-fear and you’ll find a wide array of groups that stand to benefit from promoting the scares, and that we waste tens of billions of dollars and person-hours every year on largely mythical dangers,” writes Barry Glassner in The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things (Glassner). We ought to start doubting our

The scary television; the horrifying comedians that threaten our lives; the absolutely dystopian society that roam the streets daily. It sounds similar to the senseless claims of a five year old making up excuses as to why they can’t sleep. Evidently, you appear to share the same levels of maturity and comprehension of how the world work as this five year old within you writing.

Similarly, “Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things” further examines the effects of media framing, and the way in which it affects public perception. For instance, Glassner discusses the events of child killers by introducing a terrorist attack that occurred in Oklahoma City. Initially, the terrorist attacks were thought to be planned by Islamic radicals because of the events of 9/11. However, the

Fear is a perception that individuals endure psychologically. It resides everywhere, even if it isn't actually legitimate. The feeling of terror or anxiety is almost always mental, and it shocks everyone of all ages. Being scared is always in one's mind.Individuals are subjected to fear and anxiety at any point of a day. At young ages, children are startled by many encounters. An example would be images, family members, animals, objects, and so forth. It may cause anxiety for them when they mature later in life. "We can easily forgive a child for being afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." (Plato). Being subjected to this causes a child to become fearful of the world.

Like any animal on this planet, we feel fear. Fear for self-preservation, or fear for others. And sometimes theres just a raw, and completely irrational fear that can control us if we let it. Fear is something we can all feel, just some of us have more control then others. Some people will use fear to there advantage. They'll use it to control those who feel it. Fear can cause wide spread panic or rash decisions. But if you control that fear, if you manage it, you'll hold the power others may try to weld. Now there is the frantic, abnormal fear we feel. Fear of monsters, or ghosts, or our own feelings or memories. We play with and use fear for our own entertainment. Like with movies, books, plays. We also have amusment rides for thrill seekers.

"Fear - the ultimate enemy of freedom" argues Clay Routledge from the article "Why Are Millennials Wary of Freedom." There is no denying that fear is an unsought-for feeling. Fear can sometimes lead people to have anxiety, stress, or depression. With fear restricting every action that a person makes, it is true that freedom is limited. However, this is not always the case under a few circumstances. Fear is not always a harmful emotion because it prevents danger, increases mental and physical strength, and makes us more intelligent.

An appeal is nothing more than a motive to which an advertisement is directed. The intention of an appeal is to persuade and try to change the audience concepts or ideas regarding a goal settled by the advertiser. Fear appeals are commonly used in many types of marketing communications such as marketing of products or services, social causes and ideas. Fear appeal can be considered the psychology of persuasion; messages that arouse fear and are effective in producing attitude change (Rogers, 1983; Shelton & Rogers, 1981)

Now, that your eyes have begun to open about the relationship. Fear now begins to shadow you. Especially with having no one to talk with, because of his manipulation tactics. Distancing yourself from all of your family and friends. Once again convincing yourself that he was the one. Giving him full control over your life, trying to please his every want and need. Not considering yourself, as long as he was giving you the attention that he felt you so desperately needed.

In a society where countless individuals are proud of their stupidity, proud of being bigoted proud of being racist, homophobic, and sexist, it can be all too easy to fall into a trap of hatred and fear and violence. When people become content to believe everything they are told, without a care to learn more, to see the entire picture, they begin to lose that driving force for knowledge, for invention, for progress. In fact, many begin to fear it, to fear new information, to fear the unknown. This fear leads to violence and in turn, to hatred, Eventually, this itself leads to pride in a fear of the unknown, a pride in stupidity, a pride in being ignorant and foolish.

Many people do not realize it, but the importance of fear over a lifetime is crucial. Even though fear is regularly viewed as a negative emotion, it is a key to survival. “Accept and respect children's fears. Fears are real to children, so don't laugh or say their fears are not real. Children will grow out of most fears. First, they need to learn skills to deal with fears" (Helping Children Overcome Fears, Goetze, Giselle). People need these fears as a child in order to become stronger and wiser in making judgements. In time, overcoming fear builds self confidence and maturity. For example, a person once afraid of reaching out to others for help can learn that other people's support can be beneficial. As you can see, fear over a lifetime is

Fear is an emotional response originating from the amygdala, which is located in the medial temporal lobe, the amygdala then sends excitatory signals to other parts of the brain. Fear can lead us to hide, to run away, or to freeze in our shoes. Serial killers are a threat to the United States and all over the world. Causing people to live with this constant sense of fear that something bad is going to happen to themselves or their family. All criminals are profiled, hopefully to predict the next move of a criminal and for the police force to stay one step ahead. Profiling is first identified by who the victim is and their physical characteristics. If the victim is white, the killer is most likely white as well. If the crime scene shows clean and precise movements/violence, this could indicate a well educated killer. However, profiling is not always correct and there’s always exceptions to every case.

Michael Crichton’s 2004 techno-thriller novel, State of Fear received many different opinions from the audience. Although the novel was a page-turner, it disappointed many audiences for they didn’t expect that of an action-thriller novel. Some audiences believed he did not provide credible sources for the Global Warming issue. Although the novel was fiction, Crichton provided ample amounts of information based on his own research regarding very important issues such as Global Warming and Climate Change. Crichton speaks about how these topics impact the world and the people living in it. The novel takes the readers on a thrilling rollercoaster ride that is filled with suspense, innovative technology, and outstanding research. State of Fear takes its readers from the streets of Paris to the beaches of Los Angeles, from the glaciers of Iceland to the volcanoes of Antarctica, and from the Arizona desert to the deadly jungles of the Solomon Islands. Michael Crichton presents a thought-provoking novel that makes the readers think outside of their comfort zone. In the novel, Crichton displays how information can be manipulated to people’s wishes in the modern world.

Fear... What exactly is fear? Fear is an emotion caused by the belief of danger. But, the question is should fear be used to scare children into making the right choices? I accept fear to an extent ,there is a time to refrain from doing so. Over all I believe fear should not be used as a motivational force to reform children- or anyone in that matter. The problem with fear is the word itself and the negative stance that follows it. Also, the point that fear itself cannot stand alone in children making correct decisions and where do we find the judgment today whether someone is making the accurate decision or not.