A Time for Fear
The enigmatic Shallow Larynx got me started on the idea of fear with this piece. It's a recent speech by Bill Moyers on the primary weapon of terrorists (hint: it's terror). As he writes:
Terrorists plant time bombs in our heads, hoping to turn each and every imagination into a private hell governed by our fear of them. They win only if we let them, only if we become like them: vengeful, imperious, intolerant, paranoid. Having lost faith in all else, zealots have nothing left but a holy cause to please a warrior God. They win if we become holy warriors, too; if we kill the innocent as they do; strike first at those who had not struck us; allow our leaders to use the fear of terrorism to make us afraid of the truth; cease to think and reason together, allowing others to tell what's in God's mind. Yes, we are vulnerable to terrorists, but only a shaken faith in ourselves can do us in.
Then there's Marc Siegel, who's been making the rounds for his book "False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear." Judging from the interviews I've seen, it sounds like a worthwhile read.
Back in 2000, a fellow named Barry Glassner wrote a thematically-similar book titled "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things." I was going to read it, but the reviews were a bit mixed. That probably wouldn't have been the case had it been published after 9/11.
Although they take a different tack, I'm always quick to recommend the books of John Allen Paulos, particularly "A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper." He does an invaluable service in teaching how simple mathematical concepts can not only put the news in perspective, but help in recognizing spin and dubious statistics. I read it back in '97 or so, when it first came out, and it really did make me a much more savvy news viewer. Great stuff.
UPDATE: In an astounding coincidence, one of the funnymen over at Something Awful has come up with a riff on the doomsaying of large-moustached "consumer advocates" who warn us of killer products. On the very same day that I wrote this piece. How about that?
Terrorists plant time bombs in our heads, hoping to turn each and every imagination into a private hell governed by our fear of them. They win only if we let them, only if we become like them: vengeful, imperious, intolerant, paranoid. Having lost faith in all else, zealots have nothing left but a holy cause to please a warrior God. They win if we become holy warriors, too; if we kill the innocent as they do; strike first at those who had not struck us; allow our leaders to use the fear of terrorism to make us afraid of the truth; cease to think and reason together, allowing others to tell what's in God's mind. Yes, we are vulnerable to terrorists, but only a shaken faith in ourselves can do us in.
Then there's Marc Siegel, who's been making the rounds for his book "False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear." Judging from the interviews I've seen, it sounds like a worthwhile read.
Back in 2000, a fellow named Barry Glassner wrote a thematically-similar book titled "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things." I was going to read it, but the reviews were a bit mixed. That probably wouldn't have been the case had it been published after 9/11.
Although they take a different tack, I'm always quick to recommend the books of John Allen Paulos, particularly "A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper." He does an invaluable service in teaching how simple mathematical concepts can not only put the news in perspective, but help in recognizing spin and dubious statistics. I read it back in '97 or so, when it first came out, and it really did make me a much more savvy news viewer. Great stuff.
UPDATE: In an astounding coincidence, one of the funnymen over at Something Awful has come up with a riff on the doomsaying of large-moustached "consumer advocates" who warn us of killer products. On the very same day that I wrote this piece. How about that?
posted by Matt Sandwich | 8:55 AM
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