Opinion

OUR OPINION: Fear as factor

March 16, 2010

Alarmists hinder relevant debate

NOW FEAR THIS.

You should be afraid, very afraid, say certain opponents of health care reform, that if President Barack Obama and his Democratic cronies ramrod through a massive government takeover, their plan will bankrupt this county. Oh, and it’ll also cause you endless grief when, heaven forbid, you need a doctor.

You have as much to fear from certain people on the flip side of this debate, who maintain that without reining in the unrestrained health insurance industry, rates will shoot to the moon and small businesses will close en masse, casting millions of people into the ranks of the uninsured. The result: misery.

Panicked yet?

Scare tactics seem to be the preferred method for politicians, lobbyists and others who seek to sway public opinion in the post-Sept. 11, 2001 era. Rather than sensible debate, they seize on spooky language (remember last summer’s “death panels”?) and worst-case scenarios. They are quick to sidestep middle ground, as if compromise equates to failure, and declare artificial deadlines.

During the run-up to the war in Iraq, President George W. Bush’s administration rallied supporters with dire warnings of (as it turns out, nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction. This month the Republican National Committee’s leadership is red-faced over a document that calls for using fear as a fundraising tool.

Of course, setting off alarm bells among a susceptible public is not a partisan strategy. Doomsday prophets for the Democrats warned of unimaginable horrors if Congress failed to approve its $787 billion economic stimulus package, which had mixed impacts on the nation’s recession.

Other arguments of national and local importance – from illegal immigration to the placement of methadone clinics – tend to be framed in fear. Border-crossers will doom us. Drug abusers are going to destroy the neighborhood, get our children.

Yes, you should recognize these and other topics as reason for legitimate concern. But resist the impulse to base decisions, political or personal, on frightening suggestions fed to you by an advertisement, another person, party or group.

The real danger, in most cases, is that you’ll fall for fear. And, rather than making informed decisions to better yourself and society, you’ll spend a lifetime simply getting jerked around.

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