Why All the Scare Tactics?

Thoughts from the Middle

Why All the Scare Tactics?

By

Robert J. Fischer

Introduction

It seems that wherever we turn, the news is almost always negative—global warming, too many guns, too many big city murders, bad weather impacting millions, an influx of illegal immigrants set on killing us all, killer viruses, invasions of predatory insects, terrorist around every corner, and many other sensational headlines.  Is the United States really that dangerous?  I don’t think the facts support most of these exaggerations!  While the reports may be true for specific events, the overall impact is less than most of us are lead to believe.  The following will examine a few of the fears that are prominently promoted by our government officials and the media.

Crime

Does the average American need to worry about being a victim of crime?  No!  The statistics gathered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that overall crime has been decreasing over the past 20 plus years.

Weather

Do we need to be concerned about the millions in the path of destructive storms?  While weather-related disasters have been increasing for the past 100 years, the number of people dying from them has actually decreased.

Invasion of Illegal Immigrants

Are non-English speaking people invading our lands?  We certainly see more people who look different than most white Americans.  There are plenty of Hispanics, Indians, Middle Easterners, Asians, and others who are now here in the United States.  The irony is that most of the people we see are American citizens, some with several generations of family who have lived here for decades!  While illegal border crossings are an issue, the truth is that the number of illegals has declined over the past 2 decades.  Demographers have predicted that white Americans will be in the minority by 2024.  However, this is a function of past immigration policies encouraging Hispanics, Asians and others to immigrate.  It is also a function of the declining birth rate for white Americans.

Terrorists

After 9/11 many Americans came to believe that there were terrorists lurking everywhere.  We passed the Patriot Act which established the Department of Homeland Security.  We increased security at airports and other mass transit transfer points.  While there are certainly individuals and organizations that harbor ill will toward the United States, most of our mass casualty events have been the result of individual, non-terrorist attacks. With over 30,000 firearm related deaths each year, gun-related deaths exceed any violence associated with terrorism. Our own government tells us that our chance of dying in a terrorist attack is 1 in 20 million.  It may actually be that we have more to fear from our own right wing nationalists than from foreign terrorists.  These militia groups have disrupted numerous events over the past 20 years.

The Real Threats

The media and government entities have focused on the above as threats to our way of life, but the real threats are everyday occurrences.  Things like:

• impaired driving fatalities,
• texting while driving injuries and deaths,
• disease and illnesses that do not receive adequate attention and research funding,
• the growing gap between the wealthy and poor,
• the world growth in population,
• the increase in the number of elderly who need “warehousing” since we have failed to deal with the right to die issue,
• a growing problem with general literacy.

More people are injured by texting drivers than from gun violence. Annual gun deaths are over 30,000, but injuries from texting while driving are over 391,000 (3,400 result in death).

The class system in the United States is usually broken down into 3 categories—rich, middle class, and poor, which can be further divided in subcategories.  Within the rich category are the super-rich.  This group makes up approximately 1% of the population, or 320,000 individuals.  Their monthly income exceeds $300,000.   The middle class- middle class comprises 45% of the population (14,400,000) and earn between $60,000 to $75,000 per year.  The middle class- working class comprises 40% of the population (12,800,000), making $30,000 to $40,000 per year. The bottom tier, the poor, constitutes approximately 15% of the population (4,800,000).  They live below the poverty line with incomes ranging from $18,000 to $20,000 per year. The real secret is the emerging class of corporate elites who are multi billionaires.  While liberals and conservatives point fingers at each other, the real issue is globalization.  Companies can make the same product for lower costs in other parts of the world.  They are not willing to pay more to American workers.

The population of the world is now 6.5 billion.  By 2078 it is project to reach 13 billion.  If you are living in a low growth rate country, you don’t feel the pressure created by too many people and too few resources.  We do see the problems of mass starvation in countries where these conditions exist.  The problem can be addressed through birth control.  Unfortunately, there is little attention paid to this, probably our greatest challenge as a species. Although recent studies do indicate that there is hope in the future.

As our population in the United States ages, we are faced with the issue of how to care for the elderly who can no longer care for themselves.  The current solution is a home care system that allows for various types of nursing/supervision, depending on the person’s health.  Independent living is a choice for those who want to be free of the burdens associated with home ownership or rental.  Assisted living is a choice that allows those with limitations to have a care assistant when needed.  Full time nursing care is the third level, and often not a personal choice, but one made by family members.  These Individuals have reached a stage in life where their quality of life makes it difficult to see why life is being maintained. While Oregon, Washington and Vermont have specific laws regarding death with dignity, and Montana and New Mexico have legislation supporting that decision, most of the country does not address this important issue. Those who oppose euthanasia have probably never witnessed the suffering and extremely poor quality of life that many of our elderly experience.

Conclusions

Could it be that as consumers of news, we do not want to face these difficult problems.  Perhaps it is easier to consider the news headlines that are shocking, but have little to do with our own quality of life.