Fearmongers
Fear-mongers rein upon US
And weave so much dread
Of what dismay due
We simply back into
A dark future
Like bit players
In a bad horror film
Where more than budgets are slashed
And we feign surprise
This short poem addresses the pervasive human experience of fear. Though the fear addressed in this poem relates to the daily weave of fear, almost like background noise, which leads to learned helplessness in our body politic. Everyone is familiar with the classic horror movie behavior of backing into a dark, dangerous situation, with the audience calling out to pay attention to the completely predictable eventuality of being slashed in some way. This irrational cinematic behavior provides the image for this poem. Further, the inevitable slashing is juxtaposed with feigned surprise. This feigned surprise is the logical outcome of being cowed into fear so pervasively that obvious scary outcomes coming our way need to be denied to rationalize our feelings of helplessness. Perhaps the least surprise should be expected around the persistent reality that fearful behaviors lead to fearful outcomes. Fearful means are inextricably linked to fearful ends, just like any other means and ends are tied together. Ultimately, fear brings out the worst in us. Endemic fear immobilizes us as a well-functioning society. A politics of fearmongering, and a society awash in fear, has little grounds to expect to flourish. May we have the courage to resist and challenge fearmongering. May we openly and honestly address the inherent scary outcomes within our body politic, so that reasonable and sustainable outcomes can be nurtured.
