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Culture of fear is a term used by certain scholars, writers, journalists and politicians who believe that some in society instigate overblown fears in the general public to achieve political or other goals. The term is often used to describe fears about Islamic terrorism or Islam in general which, it is argued, are fears that are usually exaggerated or irrational in nature. The press is often accused of sensationalizing news for commercial gain, and some 24/7 TV news channels, it is alleged, exaggerate threats to try to hold audience attention or to manipulate public opinion in favour of certain points of view.

Analysis

In his 2004 BBC documentary film series, The Power of Nightmares', subtitled The Rise of the Politics of Fear, the journalist Adam Curtis argues that politicians have used our fears to increase their power and control over society. Though he does not use the term "culture of fear", what Curtis describes in his film is a reflection of this concept. He looks at the American neo-conservative movement and its depiction of the threat first from the Soviet Union and then from radical Islamists. Curtis insists there has been a largely illusory fear of terrorism in the west since the September 11 attacks and that politicians such as George W Bush and Tony Blair had stumbled on a new force to restore their power and authority; using the fear of an organised "web of evil" from which they could protect their people. Curtis's film castigated the media, security forces and the Bush administration for expanding their power in this way. The film features Bill Durodié, then Director of the International Centre for Security Analysis, and Senior Research Fellow in the International Policy Institute, King's College London, saying that to call this network an "invention" would be too strong a term. But he asserts that it probably does not exist and is largely a "(projection) of our own worst fears, and that what we see is a fantasy that's been created."

Durodié's later examined the motives of the London 7/7 bombers and criticized the official report for ignoring the motives of the bombers. He criticizes analysts who have interpreted the available information according to their own preferred and uncritical models. He says "Contrary to the popular image of an organised, global network of religiously inspired fanatics, determined to create mass destruction, the actual evidence points to a small group, operating in isolation, using rudimentary tools and looking to rationalise their rage through religion." He argues that there is a broader sense of alienation and confusion that has gripped the modern world. As the old networks and affiliations that used to provide certainty in the last century have been eroded – national, religious and secular – some people today are in search of an identity and a meaning to their lives. The uncertainty of our times has, he argues, led many to view human action with concern, and encouraged a destructive misanthropy and created a dominant dystopian culture that has been acted upon by some who view themselves as particular victims. It is this dominant dystopian culture (our own) which, he argues, presents a cultural malaise and a pessimistic outlook that forms the backdrop, and inevitably shapes, contemporary terrorism, He argues that it is this that needs to be addressed if we are to defeat terrorism.

Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski argues that the use of the term War on Terror was intended to generate a culture of fear deliberately because it "obscures reason, intensifies emotions and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue".

Frank Furedi, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent points out that today's culture of fear did not begin with the collapse of the World Trade Centre. Long before 11 September, he argues, public panics were widespread - on everything from GM crops to mobile phones, from global warming to foot-and-mouth. Like Durodié, Furedi argues that perceptions of risk, ideas about safety and controversies over health, the environment and technology have little to do with science or empirical evidence. Rather, they are shaped by cultural assumptions about human vulnerability. Furdi say that "we need a grown-up discussion about our post-11 September world, based on a reasoned evaluation of all the available evidence rather than on irrational fears for the future.

The writer Jennie Bristow, argues that the culture of fear that emerged following the September 11 attacks and the subsequent anthrax attacks were not so much emergent fears but rather top-down manufactured ones by politicians and reflected by the media. She also believes that the fears engendered, although irrational, allowed patriotism to emerge which eventually led to military adventurism in places not connected to either 9/11 or the anthrax attacks.

British academics Gabe Mythen and Sandra Walklate, argue that following terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, Madrid and London, government agencies developed a discourse of "new terrorism" in a cultural climate of fear and uncertainty. UK researchers argued that this processes reduced notion of public safety and created the simplistic image of a non-white "terroristic other" that has negative consequences for ethnic minority groups in the UK.

Books

• Culture of Fear: Risk taking and the morality of low expectation, Frank Furedi, ISBN 0-8264-7616-3
• The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things, Barry Glassner ISBN 0465003362
• Politics of Fear: Beyond Left and Right, Frank Furedi, ISBN 0-8264-8728-9
• State of Fear, Michael Crichton, ISBN 0-06-621413-0
• Urban Nightmares: The Media, the Right and the Moral Panic over the City, Steve Macek, ISBN 0-8166-4361-X
• Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century., Hunter S. Thompson, (Simon & Schuster; 1st Simon edition, November 1, 2003, ISBN 0-684-87324-9)
• You Have the Power: Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear Frances Moore Lappe and Jeffrey Perkins, ISBN 978-1585424245
• Creating Fear: News and the Construction of a Crisis, David L. Altheide, (Aldine de Gruyter, 2002, 223pp. ISBN 978-0-202-30660-3)

Further reading

• The Culture of Fear by Noam Chomsky
• Beyond a Culture of Fear, by K. Lauren de Boer - article published in the EarthLight magazine, #47, fall/winter 2002/2003

See also

• Conspiracy of silence (expression)
• Conspiracy theory
• Criticism of the War on Terrorism
• Crowd psychology
• Information warfare
• Climate change alarmism
• Mass hysteria
• Mean world syndrome
• Media hype
• Moral panic
• Propaganda
• Yellow journalism

References

1. "The Power of Nightmares: Your comments". BBC. London. 3 August 2005. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
2. ^ Jeffries, Stuart (12 May 2005). "The film US TV networks dare not show". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
3. http://www.daanspeak.com/TranscriptPowerOfNightmares3.html
4. http://www.durodie.net/images/uploads/British_Security_Durodie.pdf
5. Post Store. "Terrorized by 'War on Terror' by Brzezinski". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
6. Frank Furedi. "Epidemic of fear". Spiked-online.com. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
7. Jennie Bristow (2002-10-12). "How did we get from 9/11 to here?". Spiked-online.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
8. Communicating the terrorist risk: Harnessing a culture of fear? Gabe Mythen Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, Sandra Walklate University of Liverpool, UK

• Social psychology
• Cultural studies
• Media issues
• Media manipulation techniques
• Terrorism tactics
• Fear