The currency of fear
Throughout history, fear has been used by politicians of all stripes to convince voters to go to war, accept invasions of their privacy, give up rights to free speech and acquiesce to a variety of other limitations on our freedoms and privileges. “Fear is electoral gold, particularly for the GOP [the U.S. Republican party],” Paul Waldman writes in The American Prospect.
There are numerous examples, but the most egregious was 9/11. Numbed by fear of another attack, most Americans obediently allowed U.S. troops to be sent first to Afghanistan and then to Iraq, followed by deployment of drones to an ever-widening circle of countries considered “nests” for terrorists who might threaten our way of life (although it was never really explained how they would do that — other than by allowing our politicians to convince us to forsake virtually all of the rights we hold dear). Meanwhile, our phones were tapped, our computers were rigged and thousands of names were added to “watch lists” that developed lives of their own.
Thanks to the shocking revelations of Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers, the American public had finally begun to come to its senses, resulting in introduction of the Surveillance State Repeal Act. But then came the attacks in Paris, and then San Bernardino. And suddenly the pendulum is swinging back to blind fear. According to the latest Washington Post poll, 83 percent of registered voters now think a terrorist attack in the United States is likely. Another poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute showed that nearly half of Americans say they’re either very worried or somewhat worried that they or a member of their family will be a victim of terrorism.
No wonder the xenophobia of Donald Trump, who ordinarily would be laughed off the scene before he could be taken seriously, is surging in popularity. As Gideon Rachman writes in the Financial Times, “In confusing and scary times, voters seem tempted to turn to ‘strong’ nationalistic leaders — western versions of Russia’s Vladimir Putin.”
It doesn’t matter that such fears are totally irrational. According to the New America Foundation, since 9/11 there have been 45 Americans killed in jihadist terrorist attacks, compared to 48 Americans killed in right-wing terrorist attacks. An average of about three people killed per year in a country of 320 million is next to nothing. Data show that about 30 Americans are murdered every day with guns, and a hundred die every day in car accidents. Eighty-three Americans die every day in falls, but we haven’t declared a “War on Falling,” and nobody tells pollsters their biggest fear is that someone in their family will suffer a fatal fall.
In my own life, I have discovered a radically liberating truth: Security is an illusion! No marriage is guaranteed to last forever. Every job is at the mercy of ruthless bosses and a gyrating economy. And there will never, ever be an end to terrorism. As Dan Gardner writes in his 2008 book, Risk: “Common sense isn’t so common any more. It has been suffocated by irrational fear, which in turn has been enthusiastically stoked white-hot by the profiteering fear industry, aided and abetted by opportunistic politicians; gullible, lazy media; and other leaders of public opinion who should know better.”
A case in point: Every time I travel, and am subjected to the ridiculous TSA ritual of body scanners and shoe removals, I want to hand out a copy of a Vanity Fair article by Charles Mann, who put the TSA to the test with the help of one of America’s top security experts. His conclusion? All those security measures accomplish nothing, at enormous cost. We feel safer, but it’s all an illusion.
Once you accept that simple fact — even embrace it — it’s like being set free. It is only then that you’re finally able to see that the elusive goal of 100 percent security, or anything even close to it, comes at a great cost: the loss of what Americans always thought made our country “special”: a commitment to the right of every person to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. (Nelson Mandela)
If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom. (Dwight D. Eisenhower)
