The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things: Amazon.de: Barry Glassner: Englische Bücher

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Americans are afraid of many things that shouldn't frighten them, writes Barry Glassner in this book devoted to exploding conventional wisdom. Thanks to opportunistic politicians, single-minded advocacy groups, and unscrupulous TV "newsmagazines," people must unlearn their many misperceptions about the world around them. The youth homicide rate, for instance, has dropped by as much as 30 percent in recent years, says Glassner--and up to three times as many people are struck dead by lightening than die by violence in schools. "False and overdrawn fears only cause hardship," he writes. In fact, one study shows that daughters of women with breast cancer are actually less likely to conduct self-examinations--probably because the campaign to increase awareness of the ailment also inadvertently heightens fears.

Although some sections are stronger than others, The Culture of Fear's examination of many nonproblems--such as "road rage," "Internet addiction," and airline safety--is very good. Glassner also has a sharp eye for what causes unnecessary goose bumps: "The use of poignant anecdotes in place of scientific evidence, the christening of isolated incidents as trends, depictions of entire categories of people as innately dangerous," and unknown scholars who masquerade as "experts." Although Glassner rejects the notion that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, he certainly shows we have much less to fear than we think. And isn't that sort of scary? --John J. Miller -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

From Kirkus Reviews

A critical look at the baseless, harmful paranoia spread by our mass media. Glassner (Sociology/Univ. of Southern California; Career Crash, 1994, etc.) identifies the media as major villains in his eye-opening book, which depicts both periodical and TV journalists lusting for the audiences attracted by scare stories (following the dictum, ``if it bleeds, it leads''). Scare topics like political terrorism, child-care sadists, and fire on the operating table get major play, even though statistically speaking an American is far more likely to be killed by lightning than to experience these problems. Medical facts regarding conditions like Gulf War syndrome or breast-implant complications, for example, are too questionable, the author feels, to warrant the kind of simplistic reporting they receive. When Glassner searched for evidence behind the ``roofies rape'' scare (date-rapists supposedly fed victims the drug Rohypnol), he notes: ``I searched widely for sound studies of the true prevalence [of the drugs use] and found only one.'' Many so-called experts and studies cited as authoritative sources are exposed as phonies in this carefully annotated book. At a time when crime rates are plummeting, tough-on-crime pols get photo ops at boot camps for offenders, though such facilities have accomplished nothing, according to Glassner. Yet politicians are masters at pressing our fear buttons; the author quotes Richard Nixon remarking, ``People react to fear, not love. They dont teach that in Sunday school, but its true.'' Sometimes national scares prevent us from correcting the true (if unpopular) cause of a problemour failure to respond to violent crime with tougher gun laws, for instance. Glassner ascribes some irrational fear to millennial fever and alarm at rapid technological change, but he also reminds us that scare-mongering is economically as well as politically profitable. One of the most important sociological books youll read this year, and certainly the most reassuring. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

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5 von 5 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich

Loads of Potential 26. Mai 2000

Von Ein Kunde

Format:Taschenbuch

Even I have to admit that Glassner's agenda gets in the way of what could have been a classic. He does a really sharp job of higlighting how relatively isolated cases get extrapolated into major trends, ie Granny Dumping, Pre-teen Pregnancy, Counterfiet Airplane Parts. All this generates fear in the citizenry. Other strong points of the book are the madening cases where the truth is known, but gets smothered in a wave of emotion-based reporting, ie. breast implants, youth crime, etc.

Yea, as others have noted Glassner can be a little shrill when it comes to guns. His strident language on this issue kind of sticks out like a sore thumb since the rest of his writing is fairly objective. Also, I was surprised that in his section on Metaphoic Illneses that he ommitted any discussion about the inflated statistics and fear mongering among AIDS advocacy groups. In fact, he avoids the AIDS issue altogether. It just seems very strange that in a book which tackles the formation of popular perceptions on major issues one of the biggest stories of the past 15 years is left out. Why? If I ever met Glassner, this would be the first question I'd ask of him.

Other reviewers have mentioned Frank Fuerdi's 1997 book of the same name. While Glassner is the better writer, Fuerdi is a lot more balanced and intellectually honest. Definitely buy Fuerdi's book and if you have the extra money buy Glassner's too.

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4 von 4 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich

Excellent, highly educational and enjoyable. 6. Juli 2000

Von Susan Martes

What I liked best about this book is Glassner's balance on "hot button" issues. You'll be reading one chapter and think that he is taking a liberal perspective, then the next chapter he challenges the liberal view of something, and you begin to wonder. In the end, what counts for him is the scientific evidence on whatever he is discussing.

His main point is that Americans are afraid of many things that should not bother us so much, most particularly, with regard to our children and women (e.g., teenage mothers, breast implants).

I have recommended The Culture of Fear to several of my office mates. It creates a great deal of lunchtime discussion as people take different sides about the many issues that Glassner writes so well and entertainingly about!

7 von 8 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich

Best book I've read in years. 20. Mai 2000

Von bob jacobs

I was cruising the 'net while watching the news last month and came across various references to The Culture of Fear. Then I read the comments on Amazon and got really intrigued. Here's the bottom line, folks: the gun nuts who have sent negative comments are totally off the mark (pun intended). First off, Glassner is right about what he says about guns, and he provides loads of evidence. Second off, talk about guns takes up maybe 2% of the book! If you want to know what this brilliant book is REALLY about, read the subtitles (why Americans are afraid of the wrong things, like road rage, crime, kids, and so forth). I learned more about the current state of American society from this book than from a year's worth of newspapapers-- which The Culture of Fear put in a whole new perspective anyway.