Faulty Perceptions

 Bestselling author of The Culture of Fear, Barry Glassner addresses contemporary social issues getting at the notion that the media ingrains fear in the people by blowing up a problem in unnecessary proportions, or as Glassner puts it, getting at the wrong story and the wrong crisis. We fear sidewalks even in a nice neighborhood because the local news sowed an abduction incident, which in reality happens so rarely. Some Americans fear riding buses, even when they are available to us because black men ride them, and we perceive black men as the biggest threat toward white women. However, we neglect to understand that black men face more violence than the average American, and that in fact they should be fearful, not us. We often do not try to realize that we face more danger getting in our cars every day because of accidents, not because some “thugs” will rob us at gun point at the stop sign. 
As a result, Americans need their cars to feel somewhat comfortable. Americans also stay in their homes, watch more local news and more “scary” television, which distorts our perception of reality, and in a synergistic effect, we become more fearful, stay inside, and then watch more of this kind of television. But the question remains: why do people worry about and respond to these problems rather than larger-scale problems like the oil crisis or climate change? Why aren’t we more concerned with obesity or mental health problems plaguing our most helpless society members? Why don’t the American people demand a change in life-style if their current life style is threatening them? This may be because the media makes money off the trivial problems which also seem closer to home. The local news would rather write an article on killer bees than children being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

Is this how Americans feel? (Edvard Munch's The Scream)