[Neurons] 2021 Neurons #27 THE POLITICS OF FEAR

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2021 Neurons #27

May 21, 2021

 

THE POLITICS OF FEAR

 

While there are lots of ways to think, one of the most fundamental ways is
to think fearfully.  And this is not all bad.  Fearful thinking makes
perfect sense when you are in the face of a true danger or threat.  It
protects you.  If the danger or threat that you are considering is not a
true one, but psychological or perceptual, then the fearful thinking is
dysfunctional and could be positively toxic and dangerous.


 


Further, neurologically, we humans have a negativity bias.  This bias is
wired in and shows up as the fight/flight syndrome.  And it makes sense that
we should be primed for awareness of dangers because then we can quickly and
immediately go into a defense state when we are in true danger from some
external threat.  Almost instantaneously we access a state that allows us to
either flee or fight.  Our sympathetic nervous system withdraws blood from
brain and stomach and sends to the larger muscle groups so that we have
sufficient energy for taking flight or engaging in a fight.  All of this
also makes perfect sense when we lived in the jungle and regularly faced
fierce predators.

 

Fast forward to the twenty-first century, however, and things are very
different.  There are hardly any fierce predatory animals roaming our
streets.   The best change for danger today is to put yourself in "the wrong
neighborhood," one where there are gangs, drugs, shootings, etc.  Otherwise,
you hardly need the activation of your neurological defense system.

 

Yet in spite of that, most people regularly activate their neurological
defense system of fight/flight.  We call it the stress response- a response
pattern that is a common one and that undermines the health and well-being
of millions and millions of people.  Many such people live with a siege
mentality.  They live as if they live in a jungle where danger is all around
them.  And with our negativity bias- they zoom in on any and every bad news
that the media serves up.  They may even have a predilection for bad news.

 

So while fearful thinking is appropriate, useful, and even highly
resourceful in the right context, it is inappropriate, unuseful, and
unresourceful in other contexts.  The problem today is that the media
operates as a fear industry constantly seeking to mobilize your fear
responses.  And that is a pernicious threat to your well-being.  It will
play havoc with your ability to think clearly, to learn, and to create
significant meaning.

 

Unrealistic fear makes people stupid.  Living with a siege mentality, they
suffer the ravages of stress and so are more emotional and less rational.
They are given to reacting.  This causes flaws in their perceptions.  They
are quick to fall back on the cognitive distortions as they exaggerate
dangers, magnify fears, emotionalize risks, and catastrophe possibilities.
They then pay high costs socially and economically as they are paranoid
about normal risks in living.  The fact is, many people are not thinking
clearly because they are so afraid.

 

The problem with fearful thinking occurs when it becomes habitual.  When you
default to fearful thinking, now you are seeing (and inventing) dangers and
threats where there is none or very little.  The media is great at
facilitating this destructive perception.  A current example relates to the
CDC's message last week that the science now indicates that if you are fully
vaccinated or have recovered from covid, you do not need to wear a mask
outdoors or indoors and do not need to socially distance.  Amazingly, when
this was announced, a group of people on CNN rejected it and fearfully
thought it was a dangerous message(!).  They did their best to deepen the
fearful thinking.  Yet, why would they do that?

 

This brings us to the politics of fear.  People who like to control others,
and especially to limit their freedoms, tend to operate from and promote
fearful thinking.  It helps them maintain power.  They like it when people
depend on them to keep them safe.  For them, every crisis is an opportunity
to deepen the dependency. 

 

Fearful Thinking Solutions and Cures

A resource that will enable you to use your fearful thinking appropriately
and positively is critical thinking.  If you can think critically, you can
properly assess risk in an objective and rational way.  Now you can identify
the statistical probability regarding any given risk.  What is the
probability that X will happen?  Is the chance of that happening remote or
is it high and very likely?

 

By thinking critically you realize that risk is built into living.  Risk is
a constant.  Yet all risk is not the same.  The odds of getting struck by
lightning is pretty low.  So with winning the lottery.  In life, there's no
success, development, learning, or adventure without risk.  What we need is
a realistic view of risk.  By using critical thinking and your own
ingenuity, you can anticipate, abate, and eliminate most risks.

 

When you use your executive functions and engage in executive thinking, you
can develop a mostly fear-free mind.  And a fear-free mind is always a
better working mind.  Where there's fear, there's an interference with focus
and concentration.  What we want to be able to do is to take intelligent and
calculated risks.  Then to take out the guesswork as much as possible, you
will want to get as exact numbers as possible.  Executive thinking enables
you to plan, develop independence of thinking, self-regulate, and solve the
problems that you face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director 

Neuro-Semantics 

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

 

Books can be purchased at www.neurosemantics.com 

Many other PDF books can be purchased at "The Shop" on
www.neurosemantics.com 

 

131688 NeuroSemantics ThinkingMetaphoricalyCover FRONT

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist8.pair.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20210521/b122732d/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 45430 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist8.pair.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20210521/b122732d/attachment-0001.jpg>