The Culture of Fear in America

"Keep People Afraid and They'll Consume"

In the late 1990's, almost two thirds of high school seniors had never used illegal drugs, even marijuana. Why did most of America's adults believe that drug addiction was the biggest issue concerning teens? Why did nine out of ten adults deem the drug problem out of control? (Glassner, 1)

"Give us a happy ending and we write a new disaster story," said Barry Glassner, author of "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things." He makes a good point. In the 1990's, the unemployment rate dipped below 5% for the first time in twenty-five years. Those who could not find work were finally able to get jobs. However, the media warned Americans of extreme economic disaster. They predicted that inflation rates would skyrocket, leaving many behind in the dust (Glassner, 2).

Our fears about our health seem immeasurable. Every day Americans pump themselves full of medications to help them "feel better." Scares, like S.A.R.S. (short for severe acute respiratory syndrome), which did not even make it into the U.S., worried many Americans to the point of wearing surgical masks all day long.

In 1994, a British tabloid headline caught the eye of the U.S., "Killer Bug Ate My Face." The rapidly spreading bacteria was said to be more vicious than any seen in modern times. The media warned that we were "terribly vulnerable" to "medicine's worst nightmares" (Glassner, 2). Ten years later, not much has come of it. I wonder if we were blowing the super-bug out of proportion. Well, maybe just a little.

So, why, after seeing many of these disasters blow over in time, are we still afraid of the new fad fears that the media presents? One man has an answer.