Is ours a culture of fear?

[pampango]

The "On Point" show on WBUR had Dominique Moisi, senior advisor at the Institut Francais des Relations Internationales (IFRI) in Paris, France, as a guest recently.

http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/01/20070109_a_main.asp

His premise is that for centuries "the West (was) on a roll, confident and expansive, the once-proud Islam (was) in retreat, and Asia, (was) out of it." Now - "it's a whole new map out there -- the West is in a culture of fear, Islam in a culture of humiliation, and Asia the planet's new culture of hope."

I remember that in the sixties and seventies Japan was building its economy after WWII, but that was about it. South Korea was still ruled by dictators, China was ruled by stringent communism, Taiwan was still ruled by dictators. There wasn't much positive about Asia. I know that China and India have made substantial progress over the past 20 years or so, Japan is, of course, part of the First World now, South Korea is very prosperous as is Taiwan. There are still countries that are struggling economically - the Philippines, Indonesia, Burma, but on the whole, Asia is better off now than a few decades ago.

There are many things now for us in the West to be fearful of. So I want to tell Mr. Moisi that it is not a culture of fear but a reality of things to be afraid of. Whether it is Bush, terrorists, outsourcing, electoral fraud, and a host of other issues, are we just rationally coming to grips with the flaws in our society or have we succumbed to a culture of fear in which we go looking for things to be afraid of?

[mitchum]

1. Yes, and marketing and advertising play a large part in it...

virtually all marketing or advertising is based on exploiting either an existing fear or creating a new one. And, of course, Product X will allay that fear...for awhile.

Bill Hicks was absolutely correct in his suggestion as to what those who work in advertising should do with themselves.

[KT2000]

5. Exactly!

All Rove knows is what marketers know. Fear works.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Yes, it is. It's taught by our government, our 'churches', and our schools.

Be afraid of germs, other religions, other colored people, other cultures, other animals, etc.

[deutsey]

3. I'm afraid so

:evilgrin:

[Annces]

4. I think we have more culture clash

and some of the worst people are running our country, so it is not a good combination.

[blues90]

6. Everything these days seems to be based on fear

You have car alarms for fear of a stolen car , no one pays any attention to this s these things blare away .

We have all sorts of germ killing products and air purifiers and new home safety items . All sold on the basis of fear .

We have all sorts of drugs to bring down the very anxiety brought on by these fears .

We now have the real threat of loosing our jobs and a full out nuclear war , based on reality but brought on by fear of being attacked or not being able to afford new useless products .

I can go on and on , but all of it has to do with fear or promoting fear which now has become a reality .