The Culture of Fear_ Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things - Barry Glassner [0]
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
INTRODUCTION: WHY AMERICANS FEAR THE WRONG THINGS
I - DUBIOUS DANGERS ON ROADWAYS AND CAMPUSES
Scenarios Substitute for Facts
Bad People Substitute for Bad Policies
The Power of Calling Something “P.C.”
Smoke Trumps Fire
Success Doesn’t Come Cheap
One Scare Supports Another
Chapter 2 - CRIME IN THE NEWS
Oops, Wrong Story
Oops, Wrong Crisis
Unhappy Halloween
Kiddie Porn and Cyberpredators
Raw Numbers and Pedophile Priests
Strange and Sinister Men
Stealth Weapons
Blame It on the Tube
True Causation
Crimes Nouveaux: Granny Dumping
Chapter 3 - YOUTH AT RISK
Teen Gamblers
Cybersmut
Missing Children
Making Money
Making Scary Kids
Stupid Policy Tricks
Is Society Sick?
Are Children Sick?
Bad to the Bone: Crack Babies
Chapter 4 - MONSTER MOMS
Now You See It, Now You Don’t
America’s Worst Social Problem
Bearers of Illegitimate Children
Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain
Wicked Witches
The Woman Next Door
She Beats Her Old Man Too
Chapter 5 - BLACK MEN
Of Dogs and Men
The Nation’s Foremost Anti-Semites
Even the Best and Brightest Are Bigots
Makers of the Nation’s Most Hazardous Music
Just a Thug
Chapter 6 - “SMACK IS BACK”
A White House Tradition
Drugs to Ease Collective Guilt
Busting Boomers’ Chops
This Is the Media on Drugs
The Return of Heroin
Good Numbers Gone Bad
Poster Girl for the Drug Crisis
The Roofie Myth
Mickey Finn to the Rescue
Chapter 7 - METAPHORIC ILLNESSES
Battle Fatigue
All for What?
Circuitous Critique
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
Hearing Voices
Cashing In
Bizarre Bedfellows
A Shot at Sanity
Keeping Doubt Alive
Chapter 8 - PLANE WRECKS
1994: BEWARE USAir! STAY CLEAR OF SMALL PLANES!
1995: CAUTION! UNSAFE SAFETY AGENCY
1995-1996:WARNING! BOGUS PARTS
1996: UH-OH! DISCOUNT TICKETS
Selling the Latest Air Scare
Say Something Often Enough ...
Neglect Something Long Enough ...
Why Aviation?
Chapter 9 - FINAL THOUGHTS
Chapter 10 - NEW FEARS FOR A NEW CENTURY
Plane Wrecks and Road Rage
E-Fear Redux
Missing Children, Missing Dollars
More Risky Business: Teens Gone Wild
Still Iffy After All These Years
The March of Crimes
9/11 All the Time
The Bush Administration’s Fear Machine
Enter Barack Obama
NOTES
READER DISCUSSION GUIDE
INDEX
Copyright Page
For Delaney, Megan, and Samantha Glassner, Sita Feinberg and Jan Haldipur, and Ben and Leah Rafferty
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
During the many years in which I planned, researched, wrote, rewrote, and expanded this book, my wife, Betsy Amster, endured more than any spouse ought. She had to put up with weekends in which I scarcely left my study, abbreviated vacations, and newspapers and magazines cut up before she had a chance to read them. Yet whenever I completed a draft of a chapter Betsy took time away from her schedule to identify the flaws in my arguments and offer her expert editorial advice.
I am also especially grateful to my agent, Geri Thoma, for her unfaltering friendship and support. Over time, editors and publishers at Basic Books both encouraged and supported me: Tim Bartlett, whose astute queries and suggestions improved the original book greatly, and John Sherer and Tim Sullivan, whose work was invaluable in bringing out this tenth anniversary edition.
Early on, Wendy DeBoer, a doctoral student at the University of Southern California and primary research assistant on the project, helped me find and organize thousands of news stories, television transcripts, and research studies. Special thanks go as well to my friend Morty Schapiro, my faculty colleagues in the Department of Sociology at USC, and Provost C. L. Max Nikias.
Conversations with numerous other friends, colleagues, and editors educated me and helped me sort out my positions on the topics discussed in these pages. In particular I would like to acknowledge Amy Aronson, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, Howard Epstein, Steve Fraser, Jonathan Glassner, Judith Grant, Martha Harris, Rosanna Hertz,