The politics of fear

With new screening procedures at airports and Newark Airport shut down, the war on flying (a.k.a. security theatre) continues. David Brooks and Glenn Greenwald have recent columns on the danger of this type of hysterical overreaction to terrorism. I agreed with their points, but didn’t really understand the magnitude of what they were addressing until today, listening to the news people on the teevee talk at me. It was the first time I had seen the news on TV since the bombing attempt. It was completely out of control: Obama needs to fire his entire cabinet, airports around the world need to get really, really serious about security, we need to invade Yemen, the borders are insecure. The spittle was flying fast and furious.

Walking to work I had time to internalize what I saw. My reaction while watching TV was the pressure to fight terrorism is really intense, and I suspect that is the superficial point that Obama’s critics are trying to make. After thinking about it for a few minutes it dawned on me that the criticism is good politics for the Republicans and probably has very little to do with terrorism. I won’t go as far as Brooks and Greenwald to say that the politics of fear is undermining democracy (after all most of the war that we see is security theater at the airport), but I do agree with their larger point about that we ask to be treated like children. My advice: watch the Food Network or the Travel Channel instead of the news. You are far more likely to get killed by lightening or in a car crash than by a terrorist, so why not relax and watch Adam Richman attempt to eat a six pound burrito?.