Why are so many Americans so SCARED all the time?

Question

And is it justified?

Of people breaking into your homes (fueling the need for guns for home defense)
Of foreignors stealing your jobs (fueling the non-raising of minimum wage argument)
Of nuclear war (the belief that N.Korea or Iran etc has the capability of getting anywhere near US soil with a nuclear missile)
Of terrorist attacks (9/11 has been the only terrorist attack of any scale whatsoever in all US history)
Of black people (the fear is out there as rampant as ever)
Of Communism (hence the need to attempt to link it with Liberal thinking)
And how is this fear propogated and manipulated?

Answer 1

Bush's second term is all based on putting fear in the minds of the american people. The republicans ran a fear campaign and most bought it. We do however need never to become so comfortable to believe that we can not be harmed. We are human, being american does not mean we are invincible, we can fall, and when and if we do, we will fall big. Do not live in fear, just live everyday to the fullest and be the best person you can be, one day at a time.

Answer 2

Why do so many non-Americans think they're experts on americans?
Like nobody in the UK locks their doors at night. Like I don't read about all the discrimination in the UK about immigrants.
When 9/11 happened are we supposed to say, OK... They got us. Now they're happy. They won't be doing that again. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on your part that we do drop our guard. Oh and maybe just maybe it isn't that the Jihadists are always calling for destruction of America and any american is a perfectly good target in the name of Allah.
Of blacks. I don't know where you get that. It's all you liberals that are slagging Condoleeza Rice. Only in the UK and Ireland do I still hear a lot of racism and the open use of the word nigg*r.
Of nuclear weapons??? Common sense. Would you walk into an insane asylum and hand a nutcase a AK-47?
Also, Pearl Harbour was kind of a terrorist attack. We were not at war with Japan.
So really the question you should be asking yourself is why am I so naiive and blind?

Answer 3

You got me puzzled? Which ones are SCARED? As I keep hearing it from the rest of the world all Americans want to do is make war. That all we do is kill poor people in their homes in the middle east. I think that is called aggressive not SCARED.

We put alarms in our home and a gun under our pillow so when in the middle of the night when we hear that alarm go off we pull that gun out and blow your @ss off for breaking in to our home. This is how we protect the things we have. Like our kids and our TV our computers and our cars and on an on.

I guess you must not have any thing of value like a family. Do you even own a car? One that would be worth keeping? I know that most people from the middle east see women as a step below a dog and daughters the same way. I am not sure if the law in China has been lifted or not yet but for a long time there if you had a daughter it had to be murdered. So if you don't care for your family and don't have any thing worth protecting then I can understand why you talk like you do.

Answer 4

People do break into homes from time to time. Also, I'm a gay man - the Democrats have got me scared to death that I might be killed by gay-haters. So I want a gun. If a homophobe try to mess, I buss a cap in day a ss.

Jobs do get taken (although not good ones, so that's just dumb, unskilled people worrying - but it's a worry nonetheless).

With the nukes, we aren't so much afraid of them using them on US, but they may try to use them on our ALLIES (Japan, Israel, etc.).

There hasn't been an attack since 9-11, true. I am not afraid, but I am wary.

The black people thing - I can't comment, I'm not scared of any of my black friends.

Communism never worked - I link it with "liberal" thinking because liberals are silly, just as communism was silly (yes, WAS - it's DEAD now).

Since I don't see the fear, I'll take your word for it that it is propogated and manipulated.

Love, Jack

Answer 5

Welcome to the culture of fear, brought to you by the Bush administration.

Seriously, sensationalist journalism is responsible for a lot of the fear that has been instilled in people. Fear sells. That's why it's been a popular tool for the Bush administration. Sorry, there I go again. . .

Nuclear war is something to be afraid of; have you not heard of the damage that can be caused globally? If you consider that Iran and North Korea were accused of being part of an Axis of Evil not too long ago. . . No, I'm not going to say it.

Black people? Ignorance. Pure and simple ignorance. Commmunism? That's long ago. The Cold War was American propaganda meant to give our country an enemy. It was a theoretical war, much like the War on Terror.

I hope I haven't left anything out!

Answer 6

I do agree that we tend to be overly fearful of things that have very little chance of happening to us or hurting us. I think this is because in our modern society we have eliminated most of the real danger from our lives, so we find other things to be fearful of. The media and government propagate these fears as a way of justifying their existence.

However, I do not agree with some of your statements. As for nuclear attacks, even if North Korea and Iran do not have a capability to attack us directly with nukes, we have ALLIES such as South Korea and Israel that we have an obligation to protect from such an attack. And the results of such an attack would be so horrible that we need to make sure it does not happen even once.

And your statement about terrorists is ridiculous. There have been several other terrorist attacks in the US such as OKC and the first WTC bombing. We do not ever want to get to a point where it becomes routine to have terrorist attacks in this country.

That being said there does seem to be a tendency to needlessly propagate fear even on these two issues. I would like to feel like my government is taking the necessary measures without having to scare me.

Answer 7

They are a terrified nation and it is the fault of the media. Unfortunately the British media is following the same line so expect Britain to get the same. It is starting already.

Fear sells newspapers and forces people to consume. It also stops people asking questions about their leaders so it is advantageous to the government.

Also, people have become increasingly distrustful of politicans (this is on both sides of the Atlantic). Politicans can no longer offer us a utopia because we simply don't believe them. Therefore they offer us a nightmare, something to be scared of and then offer to protect us. Whoever creates the best nightmare wins the vote. Communism was great for the American politicans just as Terrorism is great now.

So the politicans offer a nightmare, the media report that nightmare and the big businesses sell you things to protect you from that nightmare. You are scared and everyone else makes a load of money.

Answer 8

well, if russia had planted weapons or sent ships to the island of jersey (which the germans invaded ww2) the way they did to cuba, then we would have been paranoid too. but we did'nt have to worry about the cold war, it was'nt communism they fought back with, it was democracy and gas hahaha.

the koreans with missiles.....like giving a child a gun. iran....well, they would fire it straight into israel....though i know some of you would'nt give a jot.....but israel today...who else tomorrow.

i don't think that fear is something that we have a problem with in britain or america. something europe, asia and the middle east conjures up nicely between them all.

there was once this farmer who lived alone, he was burgled several times, and terrorised. on the eighth time he was burgled the farmer was waiting for him and shot him. unfortunately the burglar lived and the law being a complete and utter *** allowed the burgler to sue the farmer. that is self protection in britain. sounds like a whole lot better in the US.

minimum wage - several young men were paid off and they're jobs taken by polish men paid 2 pounds an hour and put up in caravans on site, in britain recently mate.

i don't know where your coming from about black people as i was brought up in a multicultural city where we were pretty similar in our upbringing and choices. but poverty and overcrowding creates lack of choices and resentment. but that's an issue for all people, no matter they're colour, race or creed.

people have to know the difference between the sound of a real fire alarm and a distant bell. as a child we were always being ushered out of shops because of bomb scares, we still got on with our lives, but mentally we did consider the source and wondered why they hated us so much that they would blow us up. ape killing ape just a different religion. the brits rock.

Answer 9

Wow, its incredible - for the first time ever I saw in an answer Europe and the Middle East given as equally bad examples of quality of life! In fact if Americans were not so paranoid (as it seems they are, because nobody questions the statement in this question), the ways of life in the USA and Europe would not be so different. I mean people would also live quite calmly in the USA.
On the question - it seems to me the USA can not accept the fact that the cold war is over. There must be an enemy, if you want to feel like a winner. Somebody should be trampled over in the mud for somebody else to triumph. That to me explains all the aggressiveness of American society and the keen interest in everybody and everything which can be "reasonably hated". "Bad guys" are seriously in demand :)

Answer 10

because it happens ....peoples homes get broken into everyday...there are violent things that happen to people women most of all. most of the time when you hear of a home being broken into and a woman is there she was violently raped or beaten or both, besides which the founding fathers put that in the bill of RIGHTS (right to bear arms) so we would be able to fight off emenies . (there wasn't really an army back then to protect the people. and the army cant be everywhere) every house had a gun in it or at least one. and today we just protect ourselves from different things.and also i think it is one reason people don't come here(at least on land) and attack. because from door to door they would be fought off/killed off. and it is not a "fear" or being"scared" per say but lets get real.....AMERICA..... people have been after her for a long time.nuclear war...hmmmm lets see the 80's ring a bell??...who ever thought russia would have the capablility? n. korea hates, us iran hates us ... and hello...they are TRYING.... excuse me but i for one have no desire to be anywhere near ca. when they do succed.all those countries who so desperatly want it...they support each other in getting the technology why would they want it soooo bad if they didn't intend to do something with it??what is wrong with being PREPARED? we got caught off guard once.we would be IDIOTS to not protect ouselves from "potential" threats.....not saying it could or would happen but there is nothing wrong with an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. terrorist attacks.....LOL.....ok if it happens once ...duh!fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me...there is nothing wrong with being"vigilant" and being watchful...not scared, SMART!!! black people?? don't ask me i'm not.communism.....well that one is.....i'm not sure that is even an issue anymore.that was more of a50's 60's type of thing.... i mean it is still out there but i think if we are smart we would see as americans what is already here and coming on the horizon that is far more dangerous and it is not communism. does the media play on things make hype out of it?? probably but i for one believe it would be foolish to not look at the world and see what is going on in these times we have more available to us now we are bombarded with information so i have a realistic not an alice in wonderland view this is not a fairy tale it is real life..i am not a militia militant saving canned goods in my basement type of person but there is nothing wrong with being informed, not taking everything the news says at face value, researching for yourself and becoming educated on the issues at hand.education...that is the key to conquering a fear. i don't think you could be american or you wouldn't have posed the question(not really a question it seems more of an accusation and kind of in a weird way meant to be intimidating.) you would just know from experience you wouldn't have to ask.