dagblog - Comments for "Fear Itself"

I think the biggest

Orion — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:33:01 +0000

In reply to I was thinking more of older

I think the biggest difference between those times and now is that, even if they were wrong, people were much more sure of themselves and the world back then. Almost everything is in question now.

I was thinking more of older

erica20 — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:39:56 +0000

In reply to The SSRIs, I think, play in

I was thinking more of older times than that, when religious fear was used to manipulate people, but the Cold War shared some of these features.

Which makes me think of one difference between the "old days" and these--I will try to write about it today.

The SSRIs, I think, play in

Orion — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 04:40:18 +0000

In reply to Orion, this is a very nice

The SSRIs, I think, play in to alot of sudden, explosive and bizarre violence - especially in people with little history of it. That sort of thing, with folks like Adam Lanza, is a very new thing in our world. His dad even said he couldn't understand what pushed his son to do something like that.

"Anxiety disorders" are something new to our society and probably these scary, "new" (as you said) times certainly warrant anxiety. It's very dangerous to try to drug that anxiety away. Your being fearful in fearful times is totally natural.

It obviously has nothing to do with folks like the Boston bombers. There is something darker going on there. Bombings are very, very scary. Bombings are planned out, not someone grabbing a bomb - bombs are often created by terrorists from scratch with material like fertilizer. Someone has really become warped when they feel pressed to carry something like that out.

When you talk about the "old times," do you mean the Cold War? The Cold War had alot of fear going on - but that fear at least had some sense to it. There were two teams and you chose one of those teams to root for. It's a very different game we're playing now.

Orion, this is a very nice

erica20 — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:12:52 +0000

In reply to Fear Itself

Orion, this is a very nice piece. We are in new times, but in many ways they are like the old times, when fear was generally the best technique for getting everybody to do everything.

I know you like to write about SSRIs, and I'm glad you are looking at what may be driving us to take them--uncertainty? A culture of fear? Fear of a culture with nothing to fear?

In looking at our Chechen friends, we get a glimpse into what a culture of pervasive fear and paranoia looks like--it is dark, not very successful, and offers few opportunities for success. And most of those people don't even have access to SSRIs--they're on their own.