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Why We're Living in the Age of Fear

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Re: Why We're Living in the Age of Fear

#31

Post by busterarm »

This story's opening hits too close to home. I grew up in what was predominantly a minority and gay neighborhood in NY. My mom was moderate-left and a musician who you can easily associate with the things and people you'd associate with NY musicians in the 70s.

Bob Grant, Curtis Sliwa and Rush Limbaugh irrevocably changed my family. My mom is now a religious-conservative, homophobic, racist bigot. She shouts at people for no reason. She's gotten into arguments with family members at family dinners and then called the cops on them to have them removed.

My brother is, thankfully, just conservative. Small miracles.

Re: Why We're Living in the Age of Fear

#32

Post by knz »

grecy wrote: post #13

I'm traveling in West Africa right now, and it's fascinating me how different the reality here on the ground is to what thousands of people tried to warn me off. A huge percentage of people think "Africa" is a war-torn, disease infested hell hole and that I would be murdered on day one. I have spent a massive amount of time wondering why people have such a distorted view of reality, and are so adamant about it - even…

> Australia is actually a very stable place, nothing much really happens (no civil war, no prime ministers assassinated, little violence etc.) Of course, the media looks for something sensationalist, and now a massive number of people think Australia is "full of deadly animals waiting to kill you".

America is the same. Despite all of the rhetoric about the election, gun violence, and policing the US is largely a safe and stable country. Are there major issues to address? Sure - but every country has those (Europe has seen a similar rise in politicians such as Trump, every OECD country is having similar growing pains related to the changes in employment/housing patterns, and violence related to gangs/drugs is an issue just about everywhere).

The challenge of course is to stay aware of the issues facing the world and society without getting caught up in the fear. Stability doesn't make addressing issues such as police shootings, mass surveillance, or terrorism are any less important.

Re: Why We're Living in the Age of Fear

#33

Post by oarsinsync »

Gruselbauer wrote: post #25
cel1ne wrote: post #9

We live in the age of fear because the hose of information that floods us is constantly opened further: Letters → Telegram → Telephone → Radio → TV → Internet → Mobile Internet. Human beings need time to manage their emotions. Time spent waiting. Time being bored. Time when NO new information, not even positive, is arriving. We are constantly distracted and thus increasingly unable to sort out our feelings. That is t…

There is no feasible way for me to agree more with this. I very much belong to those negatively affected by this phenomenon. I'd wager many a HN commenter is. My RSS feeds are a carefully crafted web of information, as much of a not-echo chamber I can create. From stuff I don't agree with on almost anything - Breitbart and its national counterparts, neocon blogs, libertarian thinktanks - to sources I think of as pret…

> But it does something to you, doesn't it? I feel like my view of this world has darkened over the years. I'm only thirty years old now and I feel like we're headed for disaster on a dozen different concurrent tracks. My view of man has become shrouded in a perpetual gloom, my idea of a future a cycnical dystopia.

Mirror, is that you?

> My RSS feeds are a carefully crafted web of information, as much of a not-echo chamber I can create

Can you share this list? I struggle to find myself content that isn't inside my echo chamber, and would appreciate a bigger selection of sources!

Re: Why We're Living in the Age of Fear

#34

Post by Raphmedia »

acqq wrote: post #14
cel1ne wrote: post #9

We live in the age of fear because the hose of information that floods us is constantly opened further: Letters → Telegram → Telephone → Radio → TV → Internet → Mobile Internet. Human beings need time to manage their emotions. Time spent waiting. Time being bored. Time when NO new information, not even positive, is arriving. We are constantly distracted and thus increasingly unable to sort out our feelings. That is t…

> to really help the world is turning off it's platform for a one day each week For this to work, there would have to be solidarity among the other platforms, all of them turning off on the same day (yes, even HN!) But I can actually imagine the world's productivity boost on such a day.

The one day of the week where every programmer work on its own social network platform.

Re: Why We're Living in the Age of Fear

#35

Post by dbingham »

I think some of the fear is justified.

Climate change is a very real threat and it's justifiably scary. Our government, in the last 8 years, used remotely operated drones to carry out extrajudicial killings of American citizens -- including a teenage boy. Our security state now engages in mass surveillance of us in a time when our government is engaging in extraordinary rendition of suspected "terrorists" in secret with limited oversight. Economic inequality is worse than at almost any time in human history, including the gilded age prior to the great depression.

That's not rhetoric, those are simple statements of fact. Those things are scary and fear of them is justified.

We may be -- in this very moment -- at the safest point in human history. But the fear isn't about where we are. It's about where we're headed.

Re: Why We're Living in the Age of Fear

#36

Post by brightball »

cel1ne wrote: post #9

We live in the age of fear because the hose of information that floods us is constantly opened further: Letters → Telegram → Telephone → Radio → TV → Internet → Mobile Internet. Human beings need time to manage their emotions. Time spent waiting. Time being bored. Time when NO new information, not even positive, is arriving. We are constantly distracted and thus increasingly unable to sort out our feelings. That is t…

Nailed everything. My goodness. It's like the world needs an EMP day every week.

Re: Why We're Living in the Age of Fear

#37

Post by DonaldFisk »

jontayesp wrote: post #30

Also, don't discount the role religion plays on fear (yes I am a Christian.) The popular idea in the church is that we are currently living in the end times and the world will progressively become more sinful/dangerous until the earth is destroyed and recreated by Jesus. This is a relatively new idea since the 19th century, but represents the current theological and emotional state of the church today. Look at Islam…

You're implying that all Christian denominations believe this by your blanket use of the term "the church". I don't know where you get that idea from.

Re: Why We're Living in the Age of Fear

#38

Post by kukx »

cicero wrote: post #23
kukx wrote: post #20

Is this time any different than previous? Well at least the fear of nuclear annihilation is smaller. It's kinda normal for the US to think it's on the brink of a disaster. And it's normal for Europeans to think the US supremacy will end at any moment. And still it doesn't and the US is better off than any time before.

What is different today is the Internet. Before that we had TV and radio, which also magnified fear, but not to the extent as the Internet where you can find the "news source" that best fits your particular fears.

I don't think it makes much, if any difference. The internet can be used to spread misinformation, but it can also be used for fact checking. So the net outcome is not that obvious. I'm curious to see some hard data on this subject.

Re: Why We're Living in the Age of Fear

#39

Post by cholantesh »

jontayesp wrote: post #30

Also, don't discount the role religion plays on fear (yes I am a Christian.) The popular idea in the church is that we are currently living in the end times and the world will progressively become more sinful/dangerous until the earth is destroyed and recreated by Jesus. This is a relatively new idea since the 19th century, but represents the current theological and emotional state of the church today. Look at Islam…

Isn't this mostly a Protestant idea? Most all Catholic/EO christians that I know dismiss 'end times' theology.

Re: Why We're Living in the Age of Fear

#40

Post by guard-of-terra »

Noseshine wrote: post #21
guard-of-terra wrote: post #12

Well maybe we should stop backing people into a corner then? For example, why don't back down on immigration? Instead, it sounds like "we're not listening to your concerns, rightful or not, your opinion won't affect how things are done". Hard to imagine how this treatment won't lead to panic attacks. Actually, countries definitely become harder and harder on immigration but there's a failure to project these changes…

> Well maybe we should stop backing people into a corner then? I agree with you thus far... > For example, why don't back down on immigration? But why this? I would ask for one thing: Rationality and existence of a connection. For example, if my country Germany is any guide, the parts of the country with the most fear of immigration are the ones least affected by it! Given that missing connection, how would it solve…

"how would it solve anything to listen to the demand of people"

First of all, maybe they'll be less scared?

You see yourself as a filter who will determine which requests are reasonable and which aren't. This is where trouble is.

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