This
Month's Article
State
of Fear
“I am leading to the notion
of social control, Peter. To the requirement of every
sovereign state to exert control over the behavior
of its citizens, to keep them orderly and reasonably
docile....we know that social control is best managed
through fear.”
"... modern people live in abject
fear.... amazingly, they are convinced that the environment
of the entire planet is being destroyed around them.
Remarkable! Like the belief in witchcraft, its an extraordinary
delusion—a global fantasy worthy of the Middle
Ages."
character Professor Norman Hoffman
(p. 454-455)
State of Fear by Michael
Crichton
Crichton’s book, State
of Fear was reviled by environmentalists
as belittling the threat of global warming, and praised
by corporate polluters and their political nannies
for its critique of the science warning of “the
greenhouse effect.” This book and the arguments
pro and con miss the main point that humanity must
consider: Are human beings treating each other
and the planet with respect?
Instead of arguing about the science,
we should be discussing how people live in all of their
relationships. We are living in a state of fear. It is
unfortunate that Crichton made his most truthful and
important point of the book, the inspiration for the
title itself, in the voice of a character that he ridiculed, “crazy” professor
Hoffman.
Fear is not just a product of government control, it is
a psychology that taints our everyday life, and conditions
our behavior and relationships. Governments can neither
impose fear nor give freedom to their citizens if the citizens
themselves are not fearful or free. One day it will be
shown that human life, society, governments, environmental
conditions and even health are the reflections of human
consciousness. Collectively, human beings have created
the life we are living. Pollution, war, hatred, fanaticism
and all their consequences are the mirrors in which we
must see ourselves. We try to cover our reality with the
make-up of rationalization, self-righteous religious doctrines,
or self-inflating national or ethnic pride.
The state of fear is an inner state that opportunistic
politicians and advertisers use to control us. But WE are
responsible for putting the remote control into their hands!
We can also be responsible for eliminating a life and destiny
shaped by fear. Social control only works where people
give up self-control and responsibility. Humans can solve
all the problems they themselves have created.
It is useless to argue about the
science to either prove or disprove whether people are
treating each other and the planet in a beneficial or
harmful way. Mental arguments are not needed to demonstrate
truth if people open their eyes to what is happening.
Reason is often as great a cover-up of reality as blind
faith and fear. People need only drop all their filters
and see things as they are. If we don’t
see that we are behaving against the laws of nature, we
have to rely on pain to wake us up. How much pain does
humanity need? All the threats to survival are currently
trying to awaken us.
Crichton mixes cynicism with hopeless resignation
in his book as seen by the following exchange between his
characters, Peter Evans and professor Hoffman (pp. 454-455):
Evans frowned. “You’re
saying that environmental crises took the place of the
Cold War?”
“That is what the evidence shows. Of course, now
we have radical fundamentalism and post— 9/11 terrorism
to make us afraid, and those are certainly real reasons
for fear, but that is not my point. My point is there is
always cause for fear. The cause may change over time,
but the fear is always with us…. Fear pervades
society in all its aspects. Perpetually.
Consequently, we infer that our only
way to live is to either ignore or stoically bear the
symptoms of this chronic human illness. If fear is a
symptom why are we not the physicians to eliminate the
causes? Crichton’s human
society is cemented in its animal consciousness and virtually
powerless. Crichton’s people are either perpetrators
or victims driven by animal instincts. The only virtues
he extols are in characters that seem in control through
their reason, through their physical strength, and through
financial power. These “virtues,” however,
are barely a notch above animal consciousness when controlled
by the same instincts. That may well be our past, but it
does not have to be our future.
The solution to fear obsession is
to act for the benefit of others and the planet. Who
cares about statistics, graphs, and debates? We know,
if we have eyes that are open and a heart that feels
the pain of our planetary organism that humans have to
change their behavior in order to heal the planet and
human society. Human enlightenment must
use the tools created by reason to solve our most pressing
problems. Environmental health and world peace are possible
and within the power of people to create. We need not be
resigned to a pessimistic outlook based on the state of
fear in which we currently live. Survival instincts have
now surpassed one’s self, one’s tribe, or one’s
nation and now encompass the global Self. What makes this
different from the animal instinct to survive, is that
it evokes the higher instincts of responsibility for others,
forgiveness of others, and altruistic actions to help others.
Ultimately it will be the cause of unity, cooperation and
mutual trust, the uniquely human qualities so much needed
to solve current problems.
©
2006 Richard Sidy
