Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt

[SoonerDave]

I guess as I hit the middle of my 43rd year, I'm getting both more cynical and philosophical, but something is gnawing at me and I want to know if anyone else might see themselves in the same boat.

When I watch TV, I see more and more ads telling me what pills I should "talk to my doctor about" to stave off some hideous illness, ranging from tonenail fungus to osteoporosis. When I see The Weather Channel, there's always the "threat" of a "Major Storm Outbreak" that may "slam" into the region, all with scary looking graphics with lots of red and yellow hazardous "Danger!" maps. We can't just have normal, hot summers anymore - we're to all be terrified of the dreaded "heat index" and the latest "red flag fire alert." I see local TV telling me that if I don't listen to Gary England, my family and I will all die in some hideous tornado (ok, that hasn't changed too much).

The news and/or the government tells me about yet another E. Coli meat recall, another unsafe batch of *something* I should be afraid of or worried about; too much lead in the paint, how el nino or el nina is going to cause horrendous flooding or devastating drought; how plain, boring thing "x" is actually tangentially related to awful thing "y" and We Should Be Doing Something About It!! Our tires are going to explode, our bed linens will catch fire, the sun will give us skin cancer, asteroids are going to destroy the earth, and seemingly every day SOMEONE's rights and sensibilities are being offended. Lawyers are telling us how to be sure to "get our fair share" when we get a hangnail.

It hasn't always been like this. At least I don't think it has.

Pharmaceutical companies couldn't push their wares on TV when I was a kid - doctors did that. Lawyers couldn't huckster lawsuits, either. Storms came in April, and we just knew where to hide, whlie summers were hot because, well, summers were hot, and we didn't worry about heat stroke or even know what the heck the "heat index" existed. We all just lived our lives without the notion that there were so many things to be afraid of.

I guess I just wonder when, exactly, did things all go to you-know-where? When did we allow ourselves to be turned into a nation of lawsuit-happy, fear-filled, weather-horrified, pill-popping hypochondriacs, who seem to thrive on the next thing to worry about? There seems to be a section of society that enjoys creating things to obsess about, because I guess there are so many people willing to be obsessive. Why? Is it because there are too many people out there with a vested interest in keeping everyone else perpetually on the edge of an ulcer?

I'm not suggesting we all throw caution to the winds and abandon discretion and sense, but it seems to me we've tilted waaay too far the other direction, worrying about every little microbe of life as if we had much if any ability to control its ultimate outcome. We just might all find ourselves enjoying this wonderful life of ours a great deal more.

Thoughts?

[FRISKY]

What you say is pretty much the way it is. Because of sensationalism in every aspect of mass media, I don't watch commercial TV or weather on commercial TV stations...and if the radio stations get any worse, I will quit listening to them also.

[andy157]

I guess as I hit the middle of my 43rd year, I'm getting both more cynical and philosophical, but something is gnawing at me and I want to know if anyone else might see themselves in the same boat.

When I watch TV, I see more and more ads telling me what pills I should "talk to my doctor about" to stave off some hideous illness, ranging from tonenail fungus to osteoporosis. When I see The Weather Channel, there's always the "threat" of a "Major Storm Outbreak" that may "slam" into the region, all with scary looking graphics with lots of red and yellow hazardous "Danger!" maps. We can't just have normal, hot summers anymore - we're to all be terrified of the dreaded "heat index" and the latest "red flag fire alert." I see local TV telling me that if I don't listen to Gary England, my family and I will all die in some hideous tornado (ok, that hasn't changed too much).

The news and/or the government tells me about yet another E. Coli meat recall, another unsafe batch of *something* I should be afraid of or worried about; too much lead in the paint, how el nino or el nina is going to cause horrendous flooding or devastating drought; how plain, boring thing "x" is actually tangentially related to awful thing "y" and We Should Be Doing Something About It!! Our tires are going to explode, our bed linens will catch fire, the sun will give us skin cancer, asteroids are going to destroy the earth, and seemingly every day SOMEONE's rights and sensibilities are being offended. Lawyers are telling us how to be sure to "get our fair share" when we get a hangnail.

It hasn't always been like this. At least I don't think it has.

Pharmaceutical companies couldn't push their wares on TV when I was a kid - doctors did that. Lawyers couldn't huckster lawsuits, either. Storms came in April, and we just knew where to hide, whlie summers were hot because, well, summers were hot, and we didn't worry about heat stroke or even know what the heck the "heat index" existed. We all just lived our lives without the notion that there were so many things to be afraid of.

I guess I just wonder when, exactly, did things all go to you-know-where? When did we allow ourselves to be turned into a nation of lawsuit-happy, fear-filled, weather-horrified, pill-popping hypochondriacs, who seem to thrive on the next thing to worry about? There seems to be a section of society that enjoys creating things to obsess about, because I guess there are so many people willing to be obsessive. Why? Is it because there are too many people out there with a vested interest in keeping everyone else perpetually on the edge of an ulcer?

I'm not suggesting we all throw caution to the winds and abandon discretion and sense, but it seems to me we've tilted waaay too far the other direction, worrying about every little microbe of life as if we had much if any ability to control its ultimate outcome. We just might all find ourselves enjoying this wonderful life of ours a great deal more.

Thoughts?

Nice Post. Regarding the issues to which you spoke of three things come to mind. Money, Ratings, and Federal Grant Money(to conduct research). Those would be my thoughts

[Pete]

You know you've officially arrived at middle age when you're certain the world is going to hell in a hand basket and that the younger generations are going to bring this country to it's knees.

EVERY generation thinks things are getting worse... This has been documented over hundreds of years. In the 50's people in their 40's were sure rock & roll would be the death of all things American.

Also, you should read a great book called The Culture of Fear. It's focus is the constant negativism in the news (if it bleeds it leads!) and how many in corporate management and government rely on fear tactics for profit and self-promotion.


Keep these things in mind (which you would never think about if you spent much time watching the news or talking to the average man): The standard of living is this country is absurdly high and getting better all the time. Think about how much bigger and nice your home is than when you were a kid, the kind of car(s) you drive, how often you eat out, the vacations you take. Things are MUCH better than just a generation ago.

Also, violent crime has been trending downward for the last few decades. The whole idea of not letting your kids do what you do when you were little is based on irrational fear and not any sort of measurable trend.

People are living much longer and healthier lives. Where many things went undiagnosed (or even not discussed) there is now the free flow of information where people that need help can get it.

Racism and discrimination is far less common.


The world just keeps getting better from my perspective. I'm as sentimental as anyone but I don't kid myself into thinking things were better because for the most part they were worse in almost every ways just 30 years ago.

[Kerry]

I turned the TV off a long time ago. Well, not really off but all I watch on TV is Myth Buster, How It's Made, Extreme Engineering, and Deadliest Catch. You don't worry so much about it being 2 degree hotter in 75 years when there is 35 foot wave coming down on you.

[Kerry]

In the 50's people in their 40's were sure rock & roll would be the death of all things American.

Are you saying Rock and Roll didn't kill America? I think you should take a look at 1955 and 1965 and ask yourself in which year you would rather of had a child in high school.

[andy157]

I turned the TV off a long time ago. Well, not really off but all I watch on TV is Myth Buster, How It's Made, Extreme Engineering, and Deadliest Catch. You don't worry so much about it being 2 degree hotter in 75 years when there is 35 foot wave coming down on you.

In fact, if the truth be known, I bet those guys are praying that it is two degrees hotter.

[Karried]

SoonerDave, I couldn't agree more with your post. I'm realizing that the older I've gotten, the more fearful, cynical and cautious I've become.

I think these negative things always existed in one form or another but now with the availability and bombardment of so many media stories, blogs, news feeds from all over the world, we are surrounded by negative horrible news that has us all convinced that we are facing disease and death at any second.

I like Pete's take on it.

There is no doubt, after reading news daily on CNN and many local papers, perusing the web constantly for the latest sensationalized stories, crimes, housing numbers, election news, etc etc.. I find myself agitated and upset.. the more sad stories I read, the more depressed I get.

I guess my moral of my story is to stop focusing and surrounding myself with negativity and I won't feel this sense of impending doom.

I let my son (age 15) go on a school orchestra trip to Chicago for 5 days.. first time away from us ( we've gone away from them, just not the other way around, so far and so long with strangers). I thought I would die when that bus pulled away. After reading about all the gang violence, crime, shootings, bus crashes, Amber alerts in the weeks prior.....I literally was overcome with panic and a sense that something horrible was going to happen to my child. It wasn't until I talked to him a few times that I realized how much fun he was having and that he would be okay... but that fear was almost paralyzing for me. He had the time of his life and enjoyed the heck out of his trip...and he survived!

I can't say the same about me! I don't know how long it will take me to recover, lol.

[Faith]

I stopped watching TV over 5 years ago. I don't miss it at all. In fact I have seen a few minutes of a newscast from time to time and it always plays on my emotion of fear or I am overcomed with sadness which quickly reminds me why I stopped watching. I keep advised of the weather from the radio stations on my way to and from work. I also keep abreast of current news from various websites, however with the internet I am in control of what I want to read and what I don't.

I think the answer is to stop watching TV, period.

[Pete]

I never, ever watch the news any more. I get the news I need through Internet sites and a little AM radio and I like to think I'm extremely well-informed.

There is actually lots of good stuff on TV if you use TiVo to help you sift through it. I watch tons of documentaries and science type stuff. A lot of the independent films are interesting and worthwhile. Plus, I can just skip through the commercials.

[solitude]

Great book recommendation, Pete. We're fearful of the things we shouldn't be and then don't take seriously the real threats that we should worry about.

There was the story of the lady in New York City that let her nine-year-old son take the subway home with only a map and some change for a pay phone. She said, "They say NYC is as safe as it was in the fifties. If that's true, what's the problem? Stranger abductions are down, not up as the media would have you believe. My son learned independence and has plans for more journeys, just like kids did in the fifties. Either it is as safe now as then, or it's not. The statistics are actually very clear. We need to quit filling our lives with fear and stop passing that along to our children."

Good interview with her here.

[okiebadger]

I quit watching TV for a time when I was in my mid-forties and was pretty worried about the world and how my children were to going to turn out. Now I'm a septuagenarian and I watch TV all the time. I'm not the least bit worried about global warming, I'm 20 pounds overweight, and I eat what I want without thinking twice about cholesterol. You couldn't pay me enough to join a gym. AND I COULDN'T BE MORE CONTENT. My kids turned out just fine, and I have some terrific grandchildren. Just hang in there and you will grow up one of these days.

[Pete]

When you consider the hyper-awareness (you could even call it paranoia) about such things as child abductors and sexual predators and add to that that all these things are much more likely to be observed and reported these days, it's amazing that most trends are still downward!

"Back in the day" nobody said a word when the parish priest was buggering little boys or some lecherous boss was sexually harassing anything in a skirt. Yet, even with people often going overboard in the other direction -- reporting everything and litigating over anything -- most crime rates are still down.


Among many other huge positive changes, this just came to mind: As recently as the 80's, drunk driving wasn't that frowned upon. Everyone knew you shouldn't do it but it was extremely common for people to get behind the wheel way over the legal drinking limits. It's hard to believe now, but there just wasn't much fuss made over it and most just believed if you were careful it wasn't a big deal. Well, obviously that has changed and for the better.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

Pete, another book you may want to give a shot is the one written by Fark's owner, Drew Curtis. It's a quick read, and gives a unique perspective on how the media goes about it's daily business from the point of view of an online news aggregator that openly mocks the mainstream media.

Amazon.com: It's Not News, It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap As News: Drew Curtis: Books

[Pete]

That book does look interesting! Thanks, I'll order it.


It will be interesting to see how the Internet and newly dubbed 'citizen journalism' effects the traditional news outlets. In the short term, all these different sources has made main stream media even more outlandish, seemingly in an effort to get more attention. Either that, or it's a bunch of sappy human interest stuff that always comes across as very contrived and insincere.

Newspapers still do the best job of reporting but they are all slashing their staffs due to the erosion of their profits due to the Internet.... It's a strange circular situation and I"m not sure where it's all heading.

I do, however, really like the fact I can go pick and choose the stuff I want to see and read, rather than relying on a very narrow stream of information controlled by a relatively small group.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

He covers that stuff and puts his spin/opinions on it.

[PennyQuilts]

Young people tend to think possibilities roughly equal probabilities because their personal experience doesn't distinguish between the two. Because of that, they are prone to believing that anything is possible - which can be a wonderful thing. You've reached a tipping point where you have enough experience under your belt to discern that just because something COULD happen, it isn't likely. I honestly think that is why old geezers are consistently ranked as being happier than their younger counterparts. Less to worry about or stress over.

Plus, all the ads are just ridiculous.

[dismayed]

I agree, the media is just too sensational now. It's like that year that they constantly reported on shark attacks... that year was actually the year with the fewest shark attacks statistically speaking in decades.

Long ago news rooms were pretty much viewed as a service to their customers and they were run independently from the money-making apparatus of the TV networks. At some point, I don't remember when, all the networks lumped their news rooms in with everyone else, expecting ratings if folks wanted to keep their jobs. Since then it seems like quality journalism has been traded in for whatever will shock people the most into watching.

I don't watch TV news or commercials, especially not local news and commercials they are just too annoying. I DVR everything. I even have a satellite radio DVR in the car. I pull the news that I want from the Internet, and I read magazines and books for more in-depth stuff. I think I started doing that about a year ago. Interestingly enough, I'm a much happier person now!

Edit: One exception is BBC World News America on BBC America. Great newscast.

[Pete]

Speaking of shark attacks -- and to further drive home this point of sensationalism -- as I'm sure everyone in the free world knows, a man was just killed near San Diego by a shark.

He was a triathlete as am I and therefore I was curious about the frequency of this type of thing.

Guess how many people have been killed in the entire state of California in the 80 years they've been tracking this????

8.

There are millions of people that swim on the California coast EACH YEAR. The odds of a shark attack are so low the can't even be calculated.

But when I was doing informational meetings on my triathlon group, what do you suppose the main question was? And how many people do you think didn't even bother coming and will never, ever even attempt the sport out of this fear??

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

Speaking of shark attacks -- and to further drive home this point of sensationalism -- as I'm sure everyone in the free world knows, a man was just killed near San Diego by a shark.

He was a triathlete as am I and therefore I was curious about the frequency of this type of thing.

Guess how many people have been killed in the entire state of California in the 80 years they've been tracking this????

8.

There are millions of people that swim on the California coast EACH YEAR. The odds of a shark attack are so low the can't even be calculated.

But when I was doing informational meetings on my triathlon group, what do you suppose the main question was? And how many people do you think didn't even bother coming and will never, ever even attempt the sport out of this fear??

My job in the military put me in the water a LOT all over the world...I can't tell you how many times I've seen a shark in the water with me. Only one acted curious, and that's only because I swam at it...It just swam off. They just don't care.

But I never came across a Great White or a Maco either. They're supposed to be the most aggressive towards humans I guess.

[SoonerDave]

Wow, lots of great feedback on this topic. Let me try to organize a few thoughts here..

You know you've officially arrived at middle age when you're certain the world is going to hell in a hand basket and that the younger generations are going to bring this country to it's knees.

I suppose it would be silly to try and deny that there isn't at least a part of this worked into my thoughts, but actually I think of it in a different vein. There's little doubt most of us are at least as well or better off materially and/or financially than our predecessors. What I see is that we're now encouraged to be scared to death of more things now than we ever were when I was a kid.

I think of it in a way my mom has told me - she's told me numerous times how her family was poor, but they never knew it. They just lived life and had a great time growing up playing with whatever there was to play with. Did they have things to worry about? Of course; WWII, the Cold War, "Duck and Cover," but those were things that were either half a world away or understood only in the abstract. But our daily media diet now is a steady stream of be afraid of....(fill in the blank). And I think more and more people are falling precisely in line with it.

I agree, the media is just too sensational now.

Amen and amen, over and over.

This media and news sensationalism really strikes a nerve with me. There was a great example on some news organziation's website just the other day. I remember it almost verbatim:

Women face almost twice the risk of stroke as men. What are doctors doing about this problem?

This just gnaws at me, because it is a prime example of abuse-by-statistics. They manufacture this inflammatory headline, then ask confrontationally what's being done about it!! They never bother to tell you the absolute risk of a man having a stroke, or the absolute risk of a woman having a stroke - no information except the fact that one probability is about twice that of the other, which really isn't any information at all.

The entire article was nothing other than inflammatory and pointless.

There are numerous other examples that are infinitely more egregious, and don't even get me started on the cholesterol mania.

Young people tend to think possibilities roughly equal probabilities because their personal experience doesn't distinguish between the two.

Amen again! A few years ago, an ABC reporter named John Stossel ran a story about this very topic - it wasn't titled that, but it dealt with the things that we're conditioned to worry about, but for which the probabilities are, in reality, vanishingly small. I think he updates it every so often, what gets me was that he apparently gets criticized for it. It just points out how dependent the media is on creating the illusion of dependency on what the media deems to be "essential," perpetuating a cycle. Its fatiguing and frustrating.

For me, the difference between worry and reality is, at least in part, education, and maybe even some faith, that things aren't as bad as we're conditioned to believe, and if you're compelled to worry about something, chances are the mainstream things you're told to worry about are really the best choices

That's a good stopping point for now....

-SD

[wsucougz]

My mom thrives on the fear. She constantly watches Lifetime "tv for women," where ironically every movie is about a woman in a submissive relationship with a sociopath who ends up trying to kill her in the end.

It's everywhere. I am convinced that: Going downtown, in any city, will result in gang-related death. If I allow someone to buy me a drink, I will end up in a bathtub full of ice with no kidneys, gay people want to brainwash my kids, and blizzards will descend upon Oklahoma city on any day, at any temperature, with little or no warning.

[kevinpate]

> when, exactly, did things all go to you-know-where

when the av lab rats in junior high grew up and became politicians

[PennyQuilts]

It's everywhere. I am convinced that: Going downtown, in any city, will result in gang-related death. If I allow someone to buy me a drink, I will end up in a bathtub full of ice with no kidneys, gay people want to brainwash my kids, and blizzards will descend upon Oklahoma city on any day, at any temperature, with little or no warning.

hahahaha! Thanks for the laugh!

[SoonerDave]

My mom thrives on the fear. She constantly watches Lifetime "tv for women," where ironically every movie is about a woman in a submissive relationship with a sociopath who ends up trying to kill her in the end.

In my home, "Lifetime" is referred to exclusively as the "Enemy Male Network." It panders to the worst, lowest-common-denominator fears - that all mean are vicious, raping, murdering, molesting, wife-beaters in waiting, while women are these weak, retiring wallflowers. I guess that's in contrast to the more conventional networks where sitcom husbands/dads are consistently portrayed as just blithering idiots.