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