Each day, I watch several network news shows and read several of our country’s major newspapers telling us about the many terrible things that are happening to us. The media provide us with some of the details of each event, make it as frightening as possible and then tell us that we are afraid.
What must we fear and how can we know not to worry?
A few years ago, we learned of an Ebola virus in western Africa that was killing thousands of people in three countries there. We were told that Americans were going over there to save the area from total devastation. Then came the news that one person with dual citizenship returned to the states from one of the affected countries felt sick and went to the hospital but failed to tell them from whence he came. He died. When it was diagnosed as Ebola, we were told that it could have spread throughout the hospital and into the community. We were told how frightening this prospect was. An American doctor who worked over there returned with full blown Ebola. He was treated and recovered. A nurse might have contracted it but she was also cured. She and the family of the deceased man both filed lawsuits.
The media told us how frightened we all were. I hadn’t realized that I was afraid. I reasoned that since only one American has died of this terrible plague, it probably was no cause for concern. It wasn’t.
In the past year or so, we have been hearing about unarmed black people who resisted arrest being killed by police. A New York City mayor whose son is biracial told us that he always warns his son about steering clear of the police for fear of what they might do to him. This was after a morbidly obese repeat offender died of a heart attack while resisting his third arrest. The victim was 6’5 weighed over 300 pounds, had severe heart, kidney and diabetes issues. His family successfully sued the city.
In another case, a woman committed suicide while in jail for attacking a police officer. Her family did not put up the $500 bail for her and would not return her calls. The department was sued for allowing her to die.
So should we now fear the police?
In the past year or so, the media have reported that record numbers of migrants have crossed our southern border seeking refuge in our rich country. We are told that many were children and that we could not turn them back immediately because they all fear for their lives. Some Americans are telling us that we should fear this invasion; that it will mean great costs for our taxpayers, lower wages and fewer job opportunities especially for young minority American job seekers who lack a college education. Should we be concerned about the effect of this migration will have on our schools and social welfare programs? Should those of us in the minority community be afraid that our American children will not find entry level jobs?
Now we are learning from news reports that Islamic terrorists, influenced by ISIS and Al Qaeda, are attacking us here in our homeland. There were several failed attempts but two young terrorists planted bombs during the Boston marathon killing several people and wounding many more a few years ago. We learned that the residents were Boston strong and somehow found a way to go on after this tragedy. Then, recently, two young terrorists attacked people at a nursing home and killed 14 people. Some of the victims are suing saying that this not have happened.
Now after these two tragedies we are told that we are at war and under attack. Some recommend that we let no believers in Islam, a religion of peace, to enter our country until the problem is understood and eliminated. Should we fear an-all out invasion by Islamic terrorists?
After years of hearing reports of rising oil prices and fears that with a growing demand by India and China and a diminishing world supply of the liquid gold will cause the price per gallon to rise to $5-$6 and more, we feared that this increased cost would wreak havoc on our economy. Now we are told that there is a glut of oil and we are using less, driving the price per barrel of crude oil to below $30. We still remember the experts from the now-defunct oil newsletter warning us that we will never see $50 a barrel prices which were at the time over $100. We were told to worry then. Now we are told to worry about low oil prices which are saving American drivers more than $1,000 a year per car. The stock market, our nation’s fear index, is way down for the year by more than 2,000 points from the recent high. Investors are frightened by the good news gas prices.
Should we fear low gas prices and a recession?
Recent media reports tell us of a new fear - campus unrest. We are told that groups of students at several universities have protested some lack of political correctness on campus and want the administrators fired for not doing enough to limit acts that might possibly offend some students. The targeted educators are promptly resigning, seeming to be happy to get away from that environment as quickly as possible. Comedians and pundits are threatening to stop visiting campuses because of the spread of protests against free speech that the group disagrees with. It happened at the home of the free speech movement, Berkeley, where some students objected to a liberal hero’s views on religion. He had the temerity to suggest that all religions are not equal even though he is against all of them. Should we fear the cancer of political correctness?
The mainstream media seem more concerned with helping us feel than with helping us think with reporting tailored to getting us to react to conditions about which we have insufficient information to minimize pause for reflection.
So when telling us about a medical crises that could affect us, like Ebola or Mad Cow disease or swine flu, we should be reminded how remote the chances are of us being affected by it especially when following some simple advice.
When reporting about a person being arrested or shot by police, we need to know the background and have the numbers put in perspective. If an unarmed man is killed after attacking a police officer, we need to know what had happened immediately prior and what was this person’s history.
If there is a problem with illegal immigration, we need to know the current magnitude of the problem, the real reason for the increase, the flaws in our system that allow it to continue and the several remedies to end the problem. We should also be given the actual cost of activity and the costs of the possible remedies.
When reporting on a terrorist threat, it would be helpful to put it in perspective. How does the untimely death of 95* Americans in the last 14+ years since September 11 caused by terrorists compare with the number of Americans who die of other causes during the same period?
I have found what my greatest fear is. It is the spread of incomplete, sensational, superficial and subjective information leading to knee jerk reactions by the misinformed who have been conditioned to feel rather than to think. It is the overdose of resultant political correctness which in turn stifles free speech in order to avoid any chance of the cognitive dissonance that leads to thought and change.
What me worry? Yes, I do.
* updated as of 7/7/16
