The “Sky is falling” or as I like to call it the “Politics of Panic” is one of the fastest growing political tools around. If sex sells, anxiety must be a close second in total purchases from a nervous and jerky electorate. Rahm Emanuel warned us, “Never waste a good crisis” or something like that. That’s old news and classic Rahm it seems. He knows a simple political truth. The fearful are easy to fleece. Cowards are easy to control.
Is it possible that nanny-states need to breed namby-pambies? Remember “Communists,” “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” “Too Big To Fail,” “Swine Flu,” “Reconciliation” or any other pandemics of panic?
What puzzles me most is the underlying “panic disorder” that seems to infect so many of us. When did we become so timid and scared? When did we grow so jittery and jumpy? More importantly perhaps, how can we shake these irrational phobias?
I think we simply need to grow up. To drop our childish fears of the boogeyman and the monsters and evil spirits that live under our beds at night. Sure, as a country we face some formidable obstacles in our future, but if we are going to successfully combat a variety of issues, we might want to pull our heads out from under our blankets. I suspect the chances are pretty good, that once we pull our heads out from under our blankets, we will realize how completely we have outgrown the habit.
The Sky is Falling. Fear as a political tool–Brian Brawdy
The “Sky is falling” or as I like to call it the “Politics of Panic” is one of the fastest growing political tools around. If sex sells, anxiety must be a close second in total purchases from a nervous and jerky electorate. Rahm Emanuel warned us, “Never waste a good crisis” or something like that. That’s old news and classic Rahm it seems. He knows a simple political truth. The fearful are easy to fleece. Cowards are easy to control.
Is it possible that nanny-states need to breed namby-pambies? Remember “Communists,” “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” “Too Big To Fail,” “Swine Flu,” “Reconciliation” or any other pandemics of panic?
What puzzles me most is the underlying “panic disorder” that seems to infect so many of us. When did we become so timid and scared? When did we grow so jittery and jumpy? More importantly perhaps, how can we shake these irrational phobias?
I think we simply need to grow up. To drop our childish fears of the boogeyman and the monsters and evil spirits that live under our beds at night. Sure, as a country we face some formidable obstacles in our future, but if we are going to successfully combat a variety of issues, we might want to pull our heads out from under our blankets. I suspect the chances are pretty good, that once we pull our heads out from under our blankets, we will realize how completely we have outgrown the habit.