The Anxieties of Freedom and Polarizing Politics

Anxiety. It is controlling. It is over-whelming. It has destroyed countless civilizations. Yet we continue to invite it into our lives. We are bombarded with messages of “fear” mongering and fear-based initiatives but I think the labeling is wrong. Fear is an emotional response to threats and danger. But, fear should be distinguished from anxiety, which typically occurs without any external threat. Additionally, fear is related to the specific behaviors of escape and avoidance, whereas anxiety is the result of threats that are perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable. Perceived, of course, being the key word.

The news media, which I believe not to be controlled by liberal extremists nor right-wing nutjobs but instead by purely profit seeking capitalists, is simply following the scent of money. Their agenda is not to put a secretly Islamic radical in the White House or impeach a bumbling president accused of war-crimes but rather to make as much money as humanly yet, not humanely, possible. Profit, profit, profit. It is the backbone of America, after all, and is responsible for America’s rise to superpower status that, try as we might lately, is a title we still retain. Those executives with the highest priced shares at the end of the day, not the end of the game, are the winners…for that day. The next morning…it starts all over again.


Fear can be a necessary tool in life and I don’t discount its value under certain conditions. Any parent will tell you that you cannot rationalize with a 2 year old about the dangers of sticking their fingers in a 120 volt electrical outlet. You tell them no, they stare into your warning eyes with utter defiance as their finger darts about like the tongue of a desert lizard towards the outlet yet again, until your voice erupts in a thunderous ‘NO” and they, startled, collapse in fit of tears scared nearly to death by your tone. It’s OK, parents, you haven’t scarred your child. You’ve simply given them their first lesson in fear. The trouble is not letting that fear turn into anxiety. We need a certain amount of fear in our lives or else we wind up on sensational TV shows about the World’s Dumbest Criminals or some other equally asinine demise. The right amount of fear keeps us grounded, it keeps us organized and it can keep us alive. It can be good for us.

But too much of a “good” thing is that which destroys us. Just like the corruption of power, too much fear inhibits our lives, morphs into anxiety and oftentimes leads to a life of psychological and even physical despair. It is this anxiety that some people take advantage of to manipulate and control the masses. Like the fear of terrorist attacks if the Democrats get control or the fear of tyrannical and fascist government if Republicans do the same. But the issue is really about our anxiety towards what we perceive are the realities that are served up by either side. And the remedy is in the judgment, which we have the power to reserve, deep within ourselves. Sadly, Americans tend to believe more about what is told to them rather than figure it out for themselves. Why bother looking at a whole menu of choices when I only have to choose a few items for a combo meal. It seems Americans are having an increasingly difficult time thinking on their own. And it’s no wonder, as this is the “information” age. We are bombarded by “facts”. Thousands of them every day. We have billions and billions of information bits traveling around the globe, knowledge literally, at your fingertips. Who is right and who is wrong? What is credible and what is dangerously and irresponsibly misleading? The polarization of America has become so deep, so fast.

Self-righteously speaking shouldn’t we be appalled that the most popular magazine in America is “The National Inquirer”? Is it any wonder than that the majority of us have no idea what is going on? If we’re more interested in what Miley Cyrus is NOT wearing today than what our presidential candidates stand for what does that really say about us as a society? When internet porn sites are the largest profit producing businesses on the internet do we muster the courage to say that perhaps there is some credence to the charge that America’s morality is slowly eroding away? Maybe it’s just easier to look away and seek out gratification to make us feel better. Maybe it’s more exciting to look at people who appear more pathetic than we are to make us feel better. Maybe it’s better to bury our heads in news and celebrities because our own lives are too “crazy” to deal with head on. Maybe this anxiety isn’t going to go away.

As the famous quote goes, we are drowning in information but starved for knowledge. We buy into a vein of opinion that seems to mesh with our own core values and then ride the wave of information that is served up. We are all guilty of it. And we should all strive to improve on it. Seek and you shall find, right?

I realize that this post is a little on the frenetic side, jumping from point to point, but I suppose the idea that I want most to get across is really for all of us to use our own inner compass for judgment. Before we believe whatever news blurb, politician or preacher we encounter I think it would be wise to ask yourself ‘does this really sound plausible’, ‘is this candidate really that despicably evil’ or maybe even, ‘wow, what a tragic accident or event…I wonder what ALL the circumstances were in order to see something so sad occur’. Let’s find a way to come together rather than build an arsenal of sound bytes so we can debate a point and embarrass each other. Let’s find a way to stop wanting to be right all the time.

We are a complex society here in America, with so many wasted minds and an equal amount of amazing contributors. Not to opine gratuitously but we can never erase that horrible day on September 11, 2001. We will never forget where we were, who we were with and what we were doing and we certainly would never want to experience it again…but, oh… how I long for September 12, again. A day when we all put aside our politics, our religious exclusions and, most of us, racial prejudices…our self-absorbedness. A day where we, for the first time, said ‘Hi’ to a neighbor that we silently passed by every day. A day when we walked under quiet skies with our head up, looking more people in the eye than ever before as if to say “Hey friend…fellow American…we’re in this together”. Remember that day? I’ll never forget it, either. And I want it back.