The Politics of Fear…

Last night, after a brief state of melancholic ennui, I sat down and decided to re-watch one of the greatest documentaries ever made, and after a while it got me thinking about our current H1N1 crisis. For those of our readers out there who haven’t seen Adam Curtis’ The Power of Nightmare: The Rise of the Politics of Fear then I suggest that you stop whatever you’re doing, log-in to Play.com or Amazon, or whoever you normally go to and purchase a copy right now. The Power of Nightmares is a 3 part documentary that describes an almost parallel rise of two seemingly different and opposing ideologies; neo-conservatism and radical Islam. However, as the documentary progresses, Curtis details the alarming similarities of the two political philosophies; both ideologies appear opposed, but do in fact share the same intrinsic belief in core values and morality. Having analysed the two ideologies, Curtis then goes on to describe the ‘politics of fear’, the manipulation of the population by the media and the subversion of public rationality through the use of 24hr news cycles.

For a long time now politicians have abused their positions by promoting a national aura of fear, designed to terrify the populace and to ensure that politicians appear as benevolent safeguarding demigods. The threat of nuclear war, climate change and terrorism is continually pumped into our homes and work places by a brutal 24hr media cycle designed to keep us in a constant state of alarm, thus allowing politicians to ultimately manipulate us by using our fears against us. The continual hysteria and exaggeration of the media frequently blows even minor stories completely out of proportion. Take H1N1 for example, a relatively minor influenza virus which for weeks now has gripped our national media. Yes, people have died from it and more probably will, but on average 4,000 people die from flu related complication in the UK every year, yet it doesn’t get nearly as much media coverage as ‘Swine flu’ has. The same hysteria gripped the word when ‘Avian Flu’ or H5N1 first appeared on the global scene.

In his last blog the BBC’s Robin Lustig made an extremely insightful point regarding politicians and hysteria, he argued that rather than fall flat on their faces, politicians would rather err on the side of pessimism to avoid claims of unpreparedness. This and governmental worst case contingency plans are then picked up by the national media, who in an effort to sell, sell, sell, amp up headlines which further increases public alarm. Unfortunately one of the downsides to this form of fear-promoting media attention is an increase in national apathy. Everyone remembers the story of the ‘boy who cried wolf’ and if we are continually bombarded by 24hr news cycles of fears and potential dangers then one day we may not be actually listening when the four horseman come a calling.

The shadows in the cave...