Fear and Anxiety in the U.S.

If anyone on the verge of action should judge himself according to the outcome, he would never begin.
            Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling

Recently, I was thinking of the role that fear plays in our society.  When you ask people why they do what they do, eventually, fear creeps into the conversation.  Given how often people speak of fear, my next thought was what were the consequences of this thinking and obsessing about fear.  For millennium, philosophers and writers have considered this point.  Even though we live in one of the safest periods in U.S. history, our fear has inversely grown to absurd and mystifying proportions.  Its consequences to us and our way of life could be damaging and irreversible.  

When I speak of fear, I don’t speak of the fear of things from without.  We have traditionally been an isolationist country (some say we are returning to that) but such fears have tangible qualities that make the fear more understandable, more concrete.  When I speak of fear, I mean to say the fear around us.  I speak of the fear to act, the fear to explore, the fear implanted into us by politicians and the media.  What does this dread do to us?  How does our society change with consistent, pervasive fear?  More interestingly, why are we so fearful? 

A friend once told me that when a worrier has nothing to worry about, they turn on themselves.  We are a people who have vanquished our enemies and cured our diseases.  While terrorism lurks in the distance, it has not taken the place of the threat of the Soviet Union and communist world domination.  So, with the fears from without shrinking, we have decided that the real threat lies in our neighbors and our environment.  Lurking gunmen or pedophiles or the threat of being alone has spurred our fears.  To make matters worse, politicians make hay of these fears and industries sell our fear back to us.  Consequently, we are prodded and prompted to continually look around us and our anxiety grows and we became more irrational.   

So, how does it change our society?  It first makes us wary of the mundane and the innocent.  I want to go on a hike without my cell phone.  My wife, as sold to her by cell phone companies who extolled its products based on emergencies, tells me I must bring it because what if something happens and I’m trapped.  Parents worry about having their kids walk to school or down to the corner for some groceries because of lurking molesters waiting for the careless parent who sent their innocent child in harm’s way.  Obsessive-compulsive mothers follow their children around with anti-bacterial lotion, bathing them in it every five minutes or so.  A potential entrepreneur is scared to take the leap to own her own business because of regular news reports saying small businesses are collapsing each day.   

The fear makes us timid, it turns us inward and eventually, it could impact our way of life.  The more frighten we become, the less choices we make – the more we depend on the government to make those decisions.  The more we empower government, the more we lose our voice.  In general, we pass on our fears to our children and the cycle continues.  As an expectant parent, I worry about the parts of me that are not good and passing it on to our future daughter.  She should be aware but not scared.  Yet, our children are.  When we find ourselves surrendering to our fear, we have to ask what it is doing to us.  We have to ask questions about the decisions we make and whether there is truly anything about which to be concern.   

The Danish existentialist Søren Kierkegaard once said, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”  Our fear is robbing us of a chance to experience.  Yes, bad things happen but living in constant vigilance against the worst case scenarios is no protection.  We each have a fate and it makes little difference if we spend our lives worrying about it.  Instead, as Kierkegaard said, we have to spend our lives embracing and soaking in that which is around us.  Perhaps, we will be happier.  It might be enough to not be so miserable and anxious.

 

The Devil in the Details

When Richard Nixon was out of office and dealing with the aftermath of Watergate, he was interviewed by British talk-show host, David Frost.  The Englishman pressed Mr. Nixon on the issues and legalities pertaining to the scandal.  In a particularly tense moment, the president, out of frustration said, “When the president does it, it means it is not illegal.”  I was reminded of this quote when listening to Obama administration officials and other supporters of the president’s swap of a soldier for five terrorists.  President Obama’s actions seem either the personification of President Nixon’s hubris or naïveté. 

This is not a rejection of Bowe Bergdahl’s parents or even his home town.  They have one of their own back after five years and their happiness needs no explanation or excuse.  My concerns are with the administration, which at present is under attack by Republicans, Democrats and foreign heads of state over this trade.  I’m taken aback by the fact the administration seems surprised at the response.  This suggests one of two approaches to this trade.  Either the administration never fully thought it out and its consequences, assuming that rescuing a soldier five years in the enemy’s hands would be a no-brainer for public support or they did think it through and did not feel objections or the law were important.  So, we have either an incompetent government (suggested by many) or a corrupt one (also, suggested by many). 

First, there are legal and security concerns.  To my knowledge, there are no military or security experts suggesting this trade is without some possibly dangerous repercussions.  We have done what we have always said we would not do – negotiate with terrorists.  In the past, the trading of prisoners is done after the war, after a victor is declared and the defeated is cowed.  We have ended the war but the Taliban and their allies have not.  We are still targets and still the face on their wall with darts protruding from it.  This coterie of terrorists taken from Guantanamo have not given up the struggle and as soon as they can, will be back in the field with increased knowledge of the U.S. and increased anger.   

Additionally and according to the law, the Congress was to be informed of such dealings a month before it took place.  The administration said there was not enough time to inform the Congress.  If the Congress allows this violation to go unanswered, it is not just an institution that loses prestige, power and a voice.  It is us as citizens who lose prestige, power and a voice.  The Congress is our voice as the most representative body in the government.  A rejection of Congressional oversight and authority is a rejection of the public’s.  This is one reason why there is such bipartisan congressional anger against the deal.   

On the other hand, there is the question of Sergeant Bergdahl himself.  This man is not the bastion of fealty and honor that the administration has portrayed him to be.  According to his fellow soldiers, this man quit on his platoon, placed them in danger and is responsible for the men who died searching for him.  There is little sympathy for Sgt. Bergdahl.  While some say he should be court-martialed and perhaps jailed, I think he has suffered enough for his actions assuming he was just a prisoner and not a collaborator.  However, that will be of little comfort to the families of those who died.  I do not begrudge the Bergdahl family’s joy but that joy came at a cost.  Are we, as a country, willing to pay that? 

President Obama cannot be as toned deaf as he appears to be with these various scandals that have rocked his administration but with which he claims little connection, knowledge or culpability.  However, we have history and it teaches us what happens to people who claim to be above the law.  Some in Congress have uttered the “impeachment” word but that is ridiculous.  He is only doing what his supporters and allies in Congress are allowing him to do.  Yet, the consequences of these actions could be an emasculated legislature and endangered Americans overseas.