Prompted by yet another "Americans fear..." headline, I decided to google "Americans+Fear." Result: 43,600,000. That's pretty scary stuff. So, I repeated the exercise switching "Happiness" for "Fear." Result: 13,000,000. That's sad. My totally non-scientific analysis concludes that Americans are three times as afraid as they are happy. Sad and scary.
Now what do Americans fear? Well it depends on the media-prompted-headline-driven "fear-du-jour." Tops today was "Rise of Muslim extremism", (stemming, no doubt, from the Fort Hood incident). Most recently, we've seen the Swine Flu. Unemployment. Swine flu vaccine. "Obamacare." Losing in Afghanistan. Winning in Afghanistan. Identity theft. Trying 9/11 defendants in New York City. Bird flu. Bans on gun sales. High budget deficits. Big government. Iran. Nile Virus. Suggestive lyrics. Sexually transmitted diseases. Halitosis. Nile virus. Drugs. Big butts. Raoe, Sharks. Cancer. Online theft. Environmentalists. Cancer screenings. Uppity minorities. Small breasts. Teenage pregnancy. Gay marriage. Commies. Immigrants. Progress. Library taxes. Cyber predators. Atheists. Failure. Wrinkles. Razor blades in apples. Interracial marriage...Please add your own fear in the silence of your heart.
But my favorite was fear of "losing their quality of life." If fear is three times as prevalent as happiness, I'm afraid that means that Americans fear losing their fear. And that is nothing less than not fearing fear itself.
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