Fear Factor

You know what is the most powerful political currency in our society today?  Fear.  Lines have been drawn regarding who is allowed to be fearful--and who is not.  Fear is also used as a powerful hammer to "bring down" those perceived to hold power.

I was reminded of this while reading the stories about how Vice President Mike Pence does not get himself into situations where he is alone with a woman that is not his wife.  Pence says it is due to his religious beliefs and the avoidance of temptation--but I wonder how much of that is to also avoid the "Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas" situation.  As you might expect, those on the left are attacking Pence for his practice.  They say that he should not "fear" being alone with a woman--and that it is a form of sexism, as he would meet with a man alone to discuss important issues--but not a female.

Meanwhile, women are always told to be afraid of men.  Take a look at a college campus.  Co-eds are told to never walk alone at night.  You find the blue lights and emergency contact systems every hundred feet all over campus.  There are programs that will send someone out to walk with women in the dark.  And any female making a claim of sexual assault will be believed without question.  But when men on campus talk about fear of wrongful accusations--like you saw with the Duke Lacrosse Team case and the Rolling Stone University of Virginia fraternity fiasco--they are told they are wrong to think that way.

Here's a quick little test, the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program allows women to be "big sisters" for girls and boys.  Men are strictly matched only with boys.  Don't get me wrong, I fully support the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program--but I bet you didn't see anything inconsistent with their policy, did you?

And fear is at the heart of most police shootings in this country.  Black men are told to fear police, whom they believe to be ready to beat or shoot them at the drop of a hat--so when they try to run or try to fight an officer, some are willing to defend their actions.  Officers involved in shootings claim they "feared for their lives" and that is why they used deadly force.  But those defending the suspect's actions claim the officers shouldn't be afraid in the same situation.

And I don't have nearly enough time in this segment to go through the ways members of both political parties instill fear in all Americans that the other side is trying to take away all of their "rights"  Last week, we had a story on how the current political climate is stressing people out to the point that a majority are suffering mental health issues.  Perhaps if we cut back on the fearmongering for a bit, we could all relax.