The Culture of Fear_ Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things - Barry Glassner [173]
10. Which of the issues that Glassner raises are featured in Michael Moore’s Academy Award-winning movie, Bowling for Columbine? To what degree are Moore’s emphasis on and perspective toward these issues similar to or different from Glassner’s? To what degree is Moore’s purpose similar to or different from Glassner’s?
11. To what extent is Glassner correct in his explanation of the means by which adults “justify both our fear of children and our maltreatment of them”? (74) To what extent are his remedies feasible? In addition to reports about “crack babies,” what other instances of the demonization of children and other groups can you cite? What might these instances reveal about our attitudes toward children in general and toward the underprivileged?
12. What instances does Glassner identify of poor and lower-income individuals and families suffering “when middle- and upper-income Americans purchase escape hatches from their anxieties... ”? (80) What instances do you observe in America today? How might the situation be corrected?
13. Why might people be so concerned about unwed mothers and so unconcerned about unwed fathers? What are the differences between attitudes toward unwed mothers and attitudes toward absent, unwed fathers, and what do those differences reveal about social attitudes and values in America?
14. How would you characterize anti-Semitism in the United States today? In what sources do most anti-Semitic remarks and activities originate? How do media coverage and politicians’ responses perpetuate a distorted view of Jew-bashing in America and, consequently, perpetuate anti-Semitism itself? To what extent are the patterns of anti-Semitism reflected by the incidence of other bigotries?
15. What are some of the ironies brought into relief by fear mongers’ projection of fearsome power and influence onto American black men? For what transgressions have black males been singled out for vilification and prosecution? Why, and by whom? What information does Glassner present that indicates circumstances other than those implied or claimed?
16. In what ways and to what degree is the promotion of fears of drug abuse, by politicians and the media, particularly representative of the nature and purposes of the culture of fear? In what ways have sensationalism and misinformation guided the national discussion of drug abuse? What other social and personal problems involving substance abuse and other addictions have been neglected as a result? In what ways has the displacement, by means of drug scares, “of brutalized citizens from the nation’s moral conscience” been, in Glassner’s words, an American tradition? (135) What other scares have served to free the nation’s moral conscience of any accountability of actual social and other problems?
17. How might the availability heuristic (133) apply to the various concerns, fears, and panics that Glassner examines? To what extent are we all influenced, often unaware, by the information we receive regarding any given issue and the ways in which that information is presented to us by the media and our politicians? How might we ensure that we receive accurate and objective information on important issues?
18. How do you react to the following statement and statements like it throughout Glassner’s book? “Similarly, in the 1980s as poverty, homelessness, and associated urban ills increased noticeably, Presidents Reagan and Bush, along with much of the electorate, sidestepped the suffering of millions of their fellow citizens who had been harmed by policies favoring the wealthy. Rather than face up to their own culpability, they blamed a drug.” (135—36) In what ways have our political