The current sickening addiction that as entrapped the hearts and minds of our friends, neighbors, parents, and children, is not the seductively dressed models luring us into sexual fantasies. It isn’t so much the promise of escapism and the illusion of sexual conquest through the abundance of internet pornography readily available. No, it is the constant engagement of doomsday and end of the world headlines that seek to fuel us all with a steady stream of fear about what tomorrow might bring.
Fear porn is all the rage. In its infancy, it was only shocking headlines meant to sell newspapers. But these days it is far more mature and incipient. It comes to us through alerts on our phones, retweets and Instagram stories that are intended to rile us up, to spark outrage and reaction. It is often accompanied with the most disturbing of photos; clear shots of environmental devastation or vague actions of medical professionals fighting to stem the tide of whatever cause needs your attention now. You cannot wait till tomorrow, for tomorrow will be too late.
Fear porn grabs your attention and holds it. Fear drives the clicks and clicks drive up the ad revenue and the revenue leads to more pictures and stories of dread. But it is making us sick. It is the fuel for our anxiety and depression. It blinds us to the simple daily joys found in our life as we eagerly consume the next threat to our way of life, the next dire warning from the experts that it is all coming undone, that life as we know it is about to end.
Yoda famously said, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” The promotion and reverence and even objectification of fear is not going to lead anywhere good. This isn’t instinctual fear, or common-sense fear that keeps us safe throughout our adventures in this life. This is fear that designed and presented for our consumption. As such, it may spur on action on the part of the consumers, but that action will be short lived. For the tidal wave of fear porn has no end in sight. It just keeps on pouring into our lives. It comes through our phones and our TV screens and over the radio. We have an endless supply and it never relents, so eventually we give up trying to solve it.
I believe it is intended to be this way. For above all else such a constant engagement has the effect of causing the average man to throw up his hands in tired frustration and turn instead to those who seem to have the power to fix it, to right the wrong, to end the doom and destruction that tomorrow holds. By staying addicted to the fear, we willingly give control to those we believe have the power to actually rescue us. Fear is not the path to the dark side; it is the path to servitude and compliance to the gods of this age.
Who can deliver us from such a cycle of fear and death and despair?
