Fear – The Sky is Falling

Chicken Little remains a popular child fable. It teaches the simple lesson that saying something is so doesn’t make it so. Indeed, when the sky is actually falling, no one will listen because Chicken Little claimed the fact when it wasn’t the actual truth. Just like crying wolf too often, or yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater leads to disastrous results when no actual peril exists.

Now modern day media presents itself. Pick up any newspaper or news magazine, and note the headline. Does it conjure fear? Is the Boogie Man on your doorstep? Quick, look inside and read the article to learn the facts!

Meanwhile your mind and energy is taken from the real world and its perils while you are lured into a false story to satisfy someone else’s desire for your time.

The real perils we face daily are for us to see and realize. We don’t need others to warn us. In fact if we rely on others to warn us about every little thing we will lose the capacity to see for ourselves and actually determine or discern what the real matters are. We become stunted.

So, two criminals escaped from a New York state prison. A dragnet has been launched. For several days a detailed search has not found the escaped convicts. For a week the northeastern United States has been under a terror watch for these convicts. Stay indoors. Beware all strangers. They are likely armed and very dangerous. You may be their next victim. Lordy, Lordy, the sky is falling. Stand where you are and quake in your boots!

Now a word from our sponsor, advertisers and owners of this newspaper, magazine, radio station, web site or TV station. Be sure to remain where you are and read/hear/see our ad in its richest detail. Please ignore all other media channels. They are not as good as we are!

And that’s the real message. It is about the media and its revenue stream. It is not about the news that the consumer really needs. But you knew this, right? Why then are you paying attention to those news outlets? Why do you, and we, continue to tune into the 10 o’clock news (sorry, 11 o’clock news for you eastern time zone people!). As we pass a newsstand our eyes casually scan the headlines of competing newspapers and we catch what’s hot in the news. How tempted are we to stop and buy a paper at that moment?

Remember when we listened to weather reports so we could prepare ourselves for rainy weather, or a snow storm? Actually, we listened to the forecast to better determine what we needed to wear for the day! I know I did. You too, probably. But recent technology gains makes weather forecasts much more accurate. Twelve to twenty-four hours in advance, we have a good idea of what to expect.

So we listen when storm warnings are broadcast – tornadoes possible; hurricane forming off the Florida coast. Mass evacuations being considered. Early damage reports from foreign islands – Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico – you know the drill, as reports ramp up to build the suspense of what is coming at us.

Forecasts of wind damage, possible injury and death, property destruction, flooding – the whole gamut of horrors from such a storm front. It is the news of the day and for possibly a few days. Then the hour comes when the storm is nigh. And it whimpers through our neighborhood with barely a whisper. All for naught the warnings. We were prepared but the worst case scenario didn’t happen. At least we were warned. I guess that’s a good thing.

Whether escaped convicts, destructive weather or serial rapist, the news is about what could be. Fear is used as a tool to build interest and following, ratings. The fear is only news if it is based on actual fact. To sell papers or build TV audience is not a proper use of fear.

Well, that’s my opinion anyway. How about you? Why not just wait to read or hear the report of what actually happened. You know, listen to the whole story from start to finish. Instead we are tempted to listen to the ‘uh oh’ over and over again. Trouble is repeating this over and over makes us more susceptible to misleading. Like crying wolf. Or fire! Or claiming the sky is falling.

How many Chicken Little’s are there? Really? How many? Inquiring minds need to know!

June 15, 2015