The Culture of Fear (52 page)

4. In Glassner’s view, what organizations, groups, and individuals “promote and profit from scares” (xxxi), and in what ways do they profit? What are some of the ways by which these fear profiteers create and spread unfounded and exaggerated fears? How might they be dissuaded from doing so?

5. In what ways does what Glassner calls “psychoblather” (7) contribute to the continuation of unreasonable and unfounded public fears, and to an inaccurate view of the actions of individuals and groups and of the consequences of those actions? What might replace psychoblather in relation to the analysis of public scares?

6. In what ways do reports of contrived or questionable dangers divert us from what actually puts us at risk, enable us to avoid dealing directly with the actual dangers and social and economic ills that they mask, and—at the same time—enable us to think and talk about the
results
of those dangers and ills? What actual danger or disorder does each false scare cover up? Why don’t journalists, politicians, advocacy groups, and others pay more attention to these dangers and threats? What can we do to increase attention to and concern for actual dangers?

7. In what ways do intentionally propagated false scares give their advocates the offensive advantage and defensive weapons for use in other disputes? (17)

8. What does the account of Erik Larson’s
Wall StreetJournal
exposé reveal about journalists’ reporting concerning workplace violence, specifically, and their approach to the reporting of crime in general? Why is Larson’s style of journalism so important, and why are there not more journalists—print and electronic—like him?

9. In what ways might Glassner’s treatment of such issues as pedophile Catholic priests, youth violence, and other issues recently prominent in the news lead you to view those issues in a new light? In what ways have they confirmed your understanding of the importance of those issues? Might there be
explanations other than Glassner’s for the misrepresentations and distortions that seem to characterize the great percentage of related news reports?

10. Which of the issues that Glassner raises are featured in Michael Moore’s Academy Award-winning movie,
Bowling for Columbine?
To what degree are Moore’s emphasis on and perspective toward these issues similar to or different from Glassner’s? To what degree is Moore’s purpose similar to or different from Glassner’s?

11. To what extent is Glassner correct in his explanation of the means by which adults “justify both our fear of children and our maltreatment of them”? (74) To what extent are his remedies feasible? In addition to reports about “crack babies,” what other instances of the demonization of children and other groups can you cite? What might these instances reveal about our attitudes toward children in general and toward the underprivileged?

12. What instances does Glassner identify of poor and lower-income individuals and families suffering “when middle- and upper-income Americans purchase escape hatches from their anxieties... ”? (80) What instances do you observe in America today? How might the situation be corrected?

13. Why might people be so concerned about unwed mothers and so unconcerned about unwed fathers? What are the differences between attitudes toward unwed mothers and attitudes toward absent, unwed fathers, and what do those differences reveal about social attitudes and values in America?

14. How would you characterize anti-Semitism in the United States today? In what sources do most anti-Semitic remarks and activities originate? How do media coverage and politicians’ responses perpetuate a distorted view of Jew-bashing in America and, consequently, perpetuate anti-Semitism itself? To what extent are the patterns of anti-Semitism reflected by the incidence of other bigotries?

15. What are some of the ironies brought into relief by fear mongers’ projection of fearsome power and influence onto American black men? For what transgressions have black males been singled out for vilification and prosecution? Why, and by whom? What information does Glassner present that indicates circumstances other than those implied or claimed?

16. In what ways and to what degree is the promotion of fears of drug abuse, by politicians and the media, particularly representative of the nature and purposes of the culture of fear? In what ways have sensationalism and misinformation guided the national discussion of drug abuse? What other social and personal problems involving substance abuse and other addictions have been neglected as a result? In what ways has the displacement, by means of drug scares, “of brutalized citizens from the nation’s moral conscience” been, in Glassner’s words, an American tradition? (135) What other scares have served to free the nation’s moral conscience of any accountability of actual
social and other problems?

17. How might the
availability
heuristic (133) apply to the various concerns, fears, and panics that Glassner examines? To what extent are we all influenced, often unaware, by the information we receive regarding any given issue and the ways in which that information is presented to us by the media and our politicians? How might we ensure that we receive accurate and objective information on important issues?

18. How do you react to the following statement and statements like it throughout Glassner’s book? “Similarly, in the 1980s as poverty, homelessness, and associated urban ills increased noticeably, Presidents Reagan and Bush, along with much of the electorate, sidestepped the suffering of millions of their fellow citizens who had been harmed by policies favoring the wealthy. Rather than face up to their own culpability, they blamed a drug.” (135—36) In what ways have our political leaders, of both parties, sidestepped or whitewashed real problems and their own failures by shifting the public focus to false or misleading issues?

19. In what ways and to what degree do “metaphoric illnesses” “help us come to terms with features of our society that we are unprepared to confront directly”? (153) How do metaphoric ailments and other unfounded fears and dangers serve as “critiques of major social institutions”? (163) What metaphoric illnesses does Glassner identify and what fears, prejudices, or political ideologies do these metaphoric illnesses justify?

20. Glassner writes of “a fundamental if regrettable reality” about “the persistence of fear in American society. A scare can continue long after its rightful expiration date so long as it has two things going for it: it has to tap into current cultural anxieties, and it has to have media-savvy advocates behind it.” (177) How have those two factors ensured the persistence of some of the major public fears and anxieties that Glassner discusses? What additional or other factors can you identify as contributing to the continuation of specific public panics?

21. In what ways do the media, despite an overall record of accurate reporting, continue to promote illogical fears, such as fears of flying? What explanations might be given for “this extraordinary feat of illogic” on the part of “journalists and the people they quote”? (184)

22. “In news coverage of aviation hazards,” Glassner writes, “as of other dangers the media blow out of proportion, a self-justifying, perpetual-motion machinery operates.” (201) How far does the author go in explaining the nature and causes of this “self-justifying, perpetual motion machinery”? “How do the news media minimize the excellent safety record of America’s airlines?” (195) How might we add to or fill out Glassner’s explanation?

23. To what extent might “the interests and experiences of those who oversee news organizations determine the content of the media”? (202) To what extent
might this also be true of politicians, special-interest advocates, and other fear mongers? What other needs and interests are neglected when the public’s attention and public moneys are directed by these special interests and experiences?

24. What are some of the underlying social or cultural anxieties to which specific public fears give expression and which are, at least momentarily, alleviated by those fears? To what extent are these fears “oblique expressions of concern about problems that Americans know to be pernicious but have not taken decisive action to quash... ”? (209) What are some of those serious problems, and why don’t we deal decisively with them rather than expending time, energy, and—in many instances—huge amounts of money on the alleviation of phantom fears?

25. Where, and to what degree, do Glassner’s presentation and arguments challenge positions advanced by conservatives? Where, and to what degree, do they challenge positions advanced by liberals?

26. In what ways might Glassner’s arguments and insights enable us to appropriately address issues and topics that prompt exaggerated or unfounded fears
today-for
example: weapons of mass destruction, childhood autism, job losses, and terror alerts? What fears are paramount today? In what ways—and why—are the various media, including advertising, misrepresenting or exploiting these issues and fears?

27. To what extent does Glassner enable us to distinguish unfounded and exaggerated fears and concerns from the genuine? To what extent does he enable us to recognize and effectively deal with both kinds of fears and threats?

AAA. See American Automobile Association

ABC criticism of

“March Against Drugs” and

ABC World News Tonight

on Halloween crimes

on heroin

on juvenile crime

on road rage

Abduction laws

Abortion

breast cancer and

child abuse and

Accident Analysis and Prevention,
airline crashes and

Advertising, and crime coverage

ACEP.
See
American College of Emergency Physicians

Adam Walsh Center

Adcock, Michael death of

ADHD.
See
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

ADL.
See
Anti-Defamation League

Advertising

fear

violence in

Advo Inc.

Afghanistan, United States invasion of

AIDS

Blacks and

homosexuality and

Airline accidents

counterfeit parts and

coverage of

deaths in

responding to.
See also
Commuter airlines

Alvarez, Elizabeth death of

AMBER Alert system

American Psychologist
(American Psychological Association journal)

“America’s Most Wanted” Walsh and

American Academy of Pediatrics

Whitestone and

American Airlines, crash for

American Automobile Association (AAA), road rage and

American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), on elder abandonment

American Eagle, crash of

American Enterprise Institute

American Journalism Review,
on GWS

American Journal of Public Health,
on youth violence

American Medical Association

breast implant ban and

American Pharmaceutical Association, anti-opium laws and

American Psychiatric Association

road rage and

Anecdotes, use by fear mongers

Angell, Marcia on breast implants

Anthony, Caylee

Anti-abortion activists

fear campaign by

Anti-Chinese laws/anti-opium laws

Anti-Defamation League (ADL), on black anti-Semitism

Antidrug propaganda

Anti-Semitism

anti-whitism and

fears about

See also
Black anti-semitism

Ashcroft, John

Associated Press

on aviation safety

on Koontz

on DPT vaccine

on road rage

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Authorities.
See
Experts

Autism, and vaccines

Availability heuristic

Aviation safety

child safety seats and

coverage of

discount tickets and

Bacteria

Baldwin, James on anti-Semitism/anti-whitism

Bare, Bobby violent lyrics by

Barnes, Fred on Farrakhan

Barnett, Arnold

on airline safety

on tourist

murders

Battered husbands

Battle fatigue, GWS and

Baudrillard, Jean

Bauer, Gary

on teen pregnancy

Beard, George neuraesthenics and

Beck, Melinda on aviation safety

Begley, Sharon

Bell, Alan

MCS and

Bennett, William

antirap campaign by

on crack cocaine

Shakur and

teen motherhood and

Bennetts, Leslie

on Kingery abandonment

Besharov, Douglas study by

Best, Joel on Halloween crimes

Bettelheim, Bruno on fairy tales

Biden, Joseph on date-rape drugs

Biological weapons

Bioterrorism

Birth defect scare, GWS and

Black anti-Semitism

ADL and

media coverage for

whites and

Black men

as crime casualties

fear of

murder rate for

Blacks

and HIV/AIDS

racism

Blankenhorn, David on absent fathers

Blockbuster Video, videotaping by

Blumstein, Alfred

Bobbitt, Lorena

Bochco, Steven television violence and

Bodies in Protest
(Kroll-Smith and Floyd)