XenopusTex,

What an interesting topic.

I myself have been wondering the same thing. Unfortunately, their fear agenda has been working on me. I am scared and worried because all these attacks seem to be more and more common place, and I’m not just talking about terrorist attacks, but also shooters who have had mental problems.

As a society we seem to be crumbling from the inside out. Hate, fear, and greed are corrupting us. Of course, not every single one of us, but there seem to be so many radical ideas but no one strong or brave enough to do something about it. In my opinion, presidents like Truman and Roosevelt had the guts and courage to stand up and fight to do what is right. However, our current president lacks that. He seems to be too scared to call it what it is and fight against it. The impression he is giving is that we should all just sit back and act like scared defenseless sheep against the wolves.

To me, the type of president we have as our leader makes all the difference in the attitude and overall feeling of our country. With a strong leader, others will want to rise and help out. With a weak leader, we will all just sit back without much power to do anything.

I agree that what we are experiencing could not possibly compare to the horrors of the holocaust, the Vietnam War, etc. However, I think that we feel like it is such a big threat because most of us were not alive then, or too small to remember. Yeah, we learned about it and school, but there’s a big difference between hearing about it, and experiencing even a fraction of it.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by Aislynn.

Dear XenopusTex:

Your last line is: “Why have we, as society in general, elected to push the agenda of fear?”

Who is “we, as society”? Knowing as much as I know about fear, I am not pushing fear- there is so much of it that it is the root cause of almost every mental illness/ diagnosis and many of the more physical ones. There is so much fear that people suffer greatly from it, from ongoing, excess fear (anxiety). People’s lives are so limited because of fear. So I am not pushing it, not at all.

I no longer watch TV because fear sells: buy this and you will be safe, or watch this and you will feel safe because you are not THERE/! danger is there, not where you are!/ You can forget about your troubles because others over there have it worse…

People watch horror movies- and I used to- and go on scary rides in parks- or climb steep mountains because there is some relief in getting scared in those circumstances, in watching … others on the screen in real danger while we are safe in the movie theater or at home watching. Same principle as the news/ media- capitalizing on people’s relief watching other people, over THERE, in danger.

And of course, there are politicians whose personal interests align with increasing fear and there are business people who sell more of their products because of fear.

These are some of my thoughts on the topic. There is more to it and I am looking forward to read more and think more on the topic.

anita

Dear XenopusTex:

There is a difference then between focusing on dangers we can do nothing about and focusing on dangers we can do something about and then do what needs to be done.

Always consider the motivation of the person/ group that promotes a particular fear and evaluate two things:

Is the danger they are presenting a real danger?

Is what they desire that I do about it, is that going to protect me/ others from the danger? Is what they want me to do about the danger- is it even relevant to the danger>

Looking forward to more of your thoughts.

anita