Fighting the Culture of Fear is THE Centrist Issue

Fighting the Culture of Fear is THE Centrist Issue is a post by Beau Weston. I came across it while catching up on my blog reading. It ties in directly with the stuff I have been writing about, and I am about to write about.

Sociology is a great help in combating the culture of fear. Sociology, more than any other science, in concerned with distinguishing the normal from the rare. We look at the whole bell curve, to see what is likely to happen to most people, and which things happen only rarely or mostly to those who live in the extreme ends of society. Of course, we should fight bad things, even if they are rare or are only likely to happen to other people.

But we need not succumb to a culture of fear. The facts, I believe, support a culture of cheerfulness.

Go Beau!

Comments

[will spotts]

Apropos to the social indicators topic.

I know for myself -- my fears are not rationally driven . . .. I'm not entirely sure that a calculation of the likelihood of an event is that helpful. Except maybe to remind of a sense of scale.

[Neil]

I have to confess that I am a great fan of the social sciences, although I have to agree with Will Spotts, that my fears are not rationally driven. That means that rational arguments don't win me over. If I am afraid of heights I need exposure to heights to see that I shouldn't be, the same is equally true with homophobia or other "topical" phobias of our day.
Sociology may give me invaluable data, but I/We/You do with that may not be driven by rational thought (what is rational thought?) and the data may be used to then prove my/ours/your point and validate our fear.

[Michael Kruse]

For me, dealing with my fears is a part of my spiritual formation. Sometimes my fears are quite rational. I am fearful about standing at the edge of 20 story building since the slightest unsteadiness that might kill me. Sometimes I am fearful because I sense that something is wrong but can't name it. I journal and pray about these things. Sometimes I learn that there are insecurities I have or unresolved conflict in my life that is warping my understanding. Sometimes I realize that others are trying to manipulate me with fear. Other times I realize that I have intuitively picked up on something that I should be fearful of but only later am I able to name it.

Fear and other emotions are every bit as legtimate indicators as reason. My concern is that when it comes to policy making and making decisions that impact other's lives, that I am NOT making those decisions out of fear. I want gut checks on the things that I am fearful of and for me, especially when we are talking macro policy stuff, I want to check my perceptions against some facts. I don't want my unfounded fears to injure others. But neither do I want to do harm others because I was not cautious about something I should have been.

I agree, Neil, that reason alone doesn't hack it. At some point we have to get experiential. But being experiential alone doesn't get either. Emotions and experience can mislead every bit as much as reason.

I am a firm believer that every decision of substance needs to be done with reason, but also with Scripture, wise counsel, prayer and meditation, sensing (feeling)God's pleasure, discernment of divine providence, and with an expectation of divine intervention when God so choses.

Fortunately, God has given the body a variety of gifts to percieve from different vantage points. Unfortunately, we tend to devalue those who don't share our vantage points as either evil or nuts.

Don't mean to preach. Just a lot of stuff I have struggle with in recent years.

[will spotts]

"At some point we have to get experiential. But being experiential alone doesn't get either. Emotions and experience can mislead every bit as much as reason."

That is very true.

The need for a perspective that incorporates different elements is pronounced.

I too share an innate like of the social sciences, but sometimes they seem to "miss the mark" for me -- only telling part of the story.

[Michael Kruse]

And that would be why we need Paul Harvey...to get the rest of the story. (Sorry. That was just beyond my ability to resist at midnight.) **grin**

I think it is also why we need the Body. God has given us different gifts and proclivities. Our differences were given to us for each other. The older I get the more I can see this.