First step...turn off that stupid television and quit watching sensationalized "news". If you call Oprah news for pete's sake.
Pick up a book called "Creating Fear" by David Altheide. It's very interesting.
Fear is pervasive in the United States (and probably England and Europe). Numerous opinion polls indicate that American citizens remain fearful despite clear evidence that most citizens are healthier, safer, and happier than ever before. Why is this?
The creative use of fear by news media and social control organizations has produced a "discourse of fear"—the awareness and expectation that danger and risk are lurking everywhere. Case studies illustrate how certain organizations and social institutions benefit from the exploitation of such fear construction. One social impact is a manipulated public empathy: We now have more "victims" than at any time in our prior history. Another, more troubling result is the role we have ceded to law enforcement and punishment: We turn ever more readily to the state and formal control to protect us from what we fear. This book, which attempts through the marshalling of significant data to interrupt that vicious circle of fear discourse might be of interest to you.
