ipl-logo

Negative Effects Of Fear In Society

1036 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How fear can affect people and society

Fear is often described as a feeling that occurs when danger is perceived, it causes changes not only in our behavior but also in our body by altering our metabolism and organ functions. However, in today’s world fear is used in almost every situation to either control or keep people intact with each other. To enter a civil society everyone is expected to follow a similar set of rules and if they fail to do so then they are seen as peculiar. This demonstrates that most of the time people act not because they want to but because they are afraid of the consequences that will follow if they don’t and vice versa. Therefore, the argument of this essay would be based on the negative impacts of fear on the human behavior and its diminishing effects not only on society but also on people. To begin with, the essay would focus on Lars Svendsen’s examination of fear and …show more content…

A common example of this is political campaigns and speeches that use fear to evoke the desired reaction from their citizens. Donald Trump used a similar campaign where he talked about terrorism in great lengths to be able to show people that he will protect the country. People in return voted for him because they were afraid to put their lives or the lives of their loved ones in danger. However, such campaigns only seem to be toying with people’s emotions and do not guarantee anything in the future, therefore, leading towards a manipulative society. Svendsen believed that such selfish agendas lead to betrayal and an unhappy life because it forces people to deceive one another for the sole purpose of achieving what they want. A result of this is that humans have started living their lives more securely than freely. He further argues that fear is a result of boredom and boredom comes from security, therefore, such fear is not natural, it is manufactured by the society to control

Show More
Related

Summary Of The Culture Of Fear By Barry Glassner

305 Words | 2 Pages

In his book, The Culture of Fear, Barry Glassner covers the methods and shortcomings of the television and print media and their motives when reporting crimes. Glassner respects our basic understanding that specific crimes are often sensationalized. He explains how the murder of a young Gulf War combat veteran upon returning home was used to turn the public’s attention towards violent crime in America. Unfortunately the young veterans’ death was actually a planned murder for insurance money, which the media neglected to mention. Glassner indicates that workplace violence and murders are portrayed as something akin to a disgruntled worker syndrome, but the reality is that 90% of workplace murders are committed by those intending to rob (Glassner

Read More

Similarities Between Salem And Mccarthyism

1007 Words | 5 Pages

Fear is a dangerous tool, for it can be used in countless ways and for numerous objectives. Politics of fear is the concept that people may incite fear in the general public to achieve political or workplace goals through emotional bias. Two examples of politics of fear being used in the past to “convince” people to do something are the witch trials in Salem and the McCarthy hearings. While far apart in time, they are extremely similar in idea and process, both had an end goal of getting their respective “defendants” to incriminate themselves.

Read More

Nurse Ratched In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

1091 Words | 5 Pages

“This world... belongs to the strong, my friend! The ritual of our existence is based on the strong getting stronger by devouring the weak. We must face up to this. No more than right that it should be this way. We must learn to accept it as a law of the natural world” (Kesey 185).

Read More

Fairlie Fear Of Living Analysis

107 Words | 1 Pages

Fairlie 's Fear of Living - She says that one pernicious moral effect of America 's growing fear of risk: a commensurate diminution of the notion of individual responsibility for one 's actions. 1. Fairlie criticizes the American population for failing to acknowledge the role of risks in their day to day activity 2. She says that the tolerable risk has be set so low that the nation is refusing to pay the inevitable cost of human endeavor.

Read More

How Did Robespierre Influence Society

2015 Words | 9 Pages

By not putting all your trust in one person, and distributing the power, one may not become power hungry. Terror begins when others don’t influence that ruler. Robespierre’s terror grew exponentially after he killed Georges Jacques Danton because he had all the power. Robespierre had all the power to himself and no one could stop him. Also, a society can prevent terror by limiting the amount of time one rules.

Read More

Self-Destruction In The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street

639 Words | 3 Pages

Sometimes, human beings can become murderers or monsters to each other when driven by their inner feelings. In the play "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," a normal neighborhood in the USA, we can see how suspicion among the residents leads to cruelty toward one another. It starts with a resident's car starting up without him there, and suspicion rises to the point where people start yelling, throwing things, and even shooting. Through suspicion, blame, and violence, we can see how human beings can act irrationally and self-destruct when they are driven by fear or panic.

Read More

Communism And Mass Hysteria In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

774 Words | 4 Pages

Fear and the unknown can cause people to do things that they wouldn't normally do in the right mind. Also when people want all the power they'll do what it takes to get it. A play from 1953 called, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, showed how fear affects people's thoughts. It started with a group of girls dancing in the woods. They feared getting beaten or in trouble, so they began accusing other people in the town of Salem of witchcraft.

Read More

Examples Of Fear In The Crucible

1236 Words | 5 Pages

Fear is perhaps the strongest force within humans- something that is an undeniable influence on our decision making process, whether those decisions may be major or minor. Fear comes into play both consciously and subconsciously; both practically and non practically; it is not always 100% apparent but it is the drive behind so much more of our thought process than we actually realize. This is not only human nature but the nature of animals, too. It is a force we cannot escape, whether is comes in reflexes or is something we avidly dwell on, so we’ve instead explored and embraced the wonders of this thing called fear.

Read More

What Makes Good People Do Bad Things Critical Analysis

865 Words | 4 Pages

The Monitor on Psychology article “What makes good people do bad things?” by Melissa Dittmann analyzes the results of the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Stanford psychology professor Phillip Zimbardo in 1971 and discusses what the experiment can tell us about human nature and what causes humans to be evil. In the novel “Lord of the Flies” the author William Golding discusses the effects of the theories mentioned in the article by creating his own fictional experiment with children stranded on an island during a nuclear war. Throughout his novel Golding explores the focus of Dittmann’s article; that environments and situations can bring out the evil that is inside all of us. People can act good or bad depending on their environment, and these actions are not entirely their fault because when people are not held accountable for their actions their more violent natures are revealed.

Read More

The Crucible: Theme Of Hysteria In Everyday Life And Society

481 Words | 2 Pages

One example of this is the hysteria of McCarthyism in the 1950s. Many people are filled with fear of the Communists and accuse many innocent people. The accused must then say who else they know are involved, and this allows the hysteria to spread and leads to chaos. Another example of this in everyday life is terrorism. Many people in today’s society allow the extreme fear of a terrorist attack to control their actions and perceptions.

Read More

Government Manipulation In George Orwell's 1984

870 Words | 4 Pages

In the 1984 society , people are purposely left to feel alone to make them fear getting caught by the Party. Although many people commit thoughtcrime, they will remain silent because they know the consequences of engaging in rebellion. This constant source of fear holds the community together and manipulates people’s thought processes. The government often leaves the people

Read More

Comparison Of Fear In 1984 And The Time Machine By H. G. Wells

2740 Words | 11 Pages

George Orwell’s novel, 1984 and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, both share fear as a common theme. Fear as a tool can control, change, and force people to do things that do not seem acceptable, such as make people turn on others, become violent, and forgo their belief system. Fear can be used in many different ways, such as controlling a population of people to gain power or wealth. In The Time Machine, a group of people called the Eloi, had direct power over another group called the Morlocks. In 1984, one small group of people called the “brother hood” had complete control of society.

Read More

Ecology Of Fear Argument

1331 Words | 6 Pages

California’s environment Ecology of Fear by Mike Davis gives us a very real and perhaps over the top view at the trouble California’s environment is in but they provide interesting parallels to other issues in California. Arguments provided in Ecology of Fear are very fascinating for example is theory that Los Angeles being destroyed could be a metaphor to humans actually destroying the city and state. Mike Davis describes in his book how a woman describes animals like cougars as “serial killers” who’s numbers should be cut down but do not stop living or walking through their territory.

Read More

Study 6: Erikson's Theory

1142 Words | 5 Pages

b) In Betty’s case, the motivating factors include her parents when she was a child and her husband as an adult. As a child her parents were overbearing and unsupportive constantly comparing her to her brother. c) Erikson emphasized the ego over the id, and the attempt to establish one’s ego-identity. 2. What is the crisis experienced in Erikson’s fourth

Read More

Emile Durkheim Theory Of Crime

891 Words | 4 Pages

Crime is defined as an action which evokes dissent and constitutes an offence in society. Crime can take a number of forms which have been conceptualized by a number of sociologists. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the function of crime regarding its contribution towards social stability. The French Sociologist, Emile Durkheim, was the first to comprehensively establish a relation between social functionalism, crime and deviance.

Read More

More about Negative Effects Of Fear In Society

Related Topics

Open Document