What sells even more reliably than sex? Fear. Fear is sold to the unsuspecting public every minute of every day. Fear causes people to imagine the worst and they become victims of the avalanche of drug commercials that they are bombarded with on a daily basis. Fear entices people to purchase health insurance, life insurance, homeowners insurance, automobile insurance, flood, fire, and renters insurance. The collective fear has even created laws requiring people to have insurance. Sometimes insurance is a good thing. It does not prevent life’s mishaps, but is supposed to ease the suffering when those mishaps are encountered.
Fear motivates people to actually look for problems where there are none. Hypochondriacs live in constant fear that something is wrong with them. The constant ads and commercials that appear on their computer screens, smart phones, and televisions, keep their fears alive. While their heads are filled with any number of gruesome possibilities, their fear thoughts multiply, eventually producing the very thing that they feared.
The advertisers are banking on the probability that by instilling such fear into the masses, they will be ensured of big profits. More than a century ago, the masses were controlled by a different kind of fear that was preached at them through their churches. They feared the afterlife and feared going to hell. Children often feared their parents and teachers who believed in the old adage, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” Fear can range from big things, to small things. We may fear that someone does not like us, or fear that another is “out to get us”. We fear disease. We fear poverty. We fear what is different. We fear the unknown. But, Roosevelt’s axiom, “There is nothing to fear, but fear itself”, is as true today as it was more than a century ago.
Can we create a new paradigm that is not based on fear? Can we follow the wisdom of Marianne Williamson, democratic candidate for the 2020 election, and begin a shift that is based in love, rather than fear? We must be fearless in our efforts to overcome climate change and the many, many challenges that currently face us.
