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21st out of 161 books
—
61 voters
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add to my books
The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things
by
Barry Glassner (Goodreads Author)
In this eye-opening examination of a pathology that has swept the country, the noted sociologist Barry Glassner reveals why Americans are burdened with overblown fears. He exposes the people and organizations that manipulate our perceptions and profit from our anxieties: politicians who win elections by heightening concerns about crime and drug use even as both are declini...more
Paperback, 210 pages
Published
March 16th 2000
by Basic Books
(first published 1999)
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Tell me something I don't know. The media sensationalizes whatever they can for ratings and statistics can be twisted to show whatever someone wants them to show.
Consider the source when you get your info. Who funds them? What do they have to gain? Is there another way to read a statistic? Then, take your Paxil and crawl back into your basement bunker with your guns.
Consider the source when you get your info. Who funds them? What do they have to gain? Is there another way to read a statistic? Then, take your Paxil and crawl back into your basement bunker with your guns.
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This book really opened my eyes to the manipulations of the media, and the politicians. The whole point is "Be afraid, give us money" which my BF and I say whenever we see it happening.
If you watched "Bowling for Columbine", He sites this books and suggests it, and when speaking to Marylin Manson if you had a moment of "Holy crap he has a brain," or any minor epiphany because of the points that come up in that interview segment in the movie, then you nee...more
If you watched "Bowling for Columbine", He sites this books and suggests it, and when speaking to Marylin Manson if you had a moment of "Holy crap he has a brain," or any minor epiphany because of the points that come up in that interview segment in the movie, then you nee...more
Barry wrote this book in 1999, so it a whole different social landscape of fear than we have now. However, one can see the parallels between our worlds and a somewhat belabored book could be summed up in a handful of points. Let me see if I can do this.
People begin to see the things that they fear. Perhaps, we are all hypochondriacs at some level.
I have laughed at myself at this weakness, but I think we all have it. When exposed enough to an idea (fear), we will believe i...more
People begin to see the things that they fear. Perhaps, we are all hypochondriacs at some level.
I have laughed at myself at this weakness, but I think we all have it. When exposed enough to an idea (fear), we will believe i...more
The Culture of Fear truly and aggressively insinuates that America is trapped in a culture that feeds off fear mongering by corporations, public officials, experts and mostly media personnel. Glassner brightly examines the phenomenon of fear mongering, which ultimately it creates a shallow society. Americans are brainwashed by the information provided by the media, which instinctively and distinguishably misinforms and misguides Americans. Yet, the blame doesn’t stop at the media; public officia...more
Dennis D.
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who thinks Fox News is really fair and balanced
This is a terrific non-fiction book about how special interests, news organizations, and the government manipulate the populace through fear tactics. Researching social epidemics such as airline safety, school violence and road rage (among many others), Glassner pretty effectively illustrates how we are fed a diet of fear by trumped up "experts," and people who have a stake in keeping us afraid. This second situ is what was appalling to me. If your livelihood is consulting and givin...more
I give this 4 stars not because it was necessarily super well-written, thought it was clear and concise, but because I thought the subject matter was remarkable.
I would have never, ever picked this up as my own volition. Ever. Ever, ever, ever. These types of books never appeal to me. However, my older brother is very into economics, social studies, etc. etc. and he wanted me to read this. I found the abridged audio version, which is what I am reviewing and figured I could handle de...more
I would have never, ever picked this up as my own volition. Ever. Ever, ever, ever. These types of books never appeal to me. However, my older brother is very into economics, social studies, etc. etc. and he wanted me to read this. I found the abridged audio version, which is what I am reviewing and figured I could handle de...more
It's a dangerous world out there: there are things that cause people to suffer harm and death every day. Not surprisingly, most people are afraid of bad things that can happen to them. But, remarkably, the threats that are likely to actually hurt people are hardly ever the things they worry about. Why?
In this book, Glassner explores why people are afraid of things that are almost certain not to harm them, and why they are able to mostly ignore things that actually pose real threats....more
In this book, Glassner explores why people are afraid of things that are almost certain not to harm them, and why they are able to mostly ignore things that actually pose real threats....more
A Sociologist's look at how media play up easy subjects of fear: plane crashes, road rage, black men and killer moms, which distract us from the real issues we feel powerless to solve. The real issues he sees are: declining infrastructure, parents spending less time with their kids, racial intolerance and tilted playing field, massive abuse of legal drugs far outstripping abuse of illegal drugs (we talk about the one to reference the other). An example of a shocking, fearful subject is air crash...more
The premise of this book is very compelling but it very rapidly descended into bashing anything that does not support the Progressive agenda.
Conservatives come in for some very scathing attacks. And well they did/do deserve some of this the author entirely negates (with only a few sops to objectivity) their legitimate claims and comes close to calling writers, such as Dinesh D'Souza, liars. He doesn't even bother to discuss, in the context of D'Souza, that there may have been a mis...more
Conservatives come in for some very scathing attacks. And well they did/do deserve some of this the author entirely negates (with only a few sops to objectivity) their legitimate claims and comes close to calling writers, such as Dinesh D'Souza, liars. He doesn't even bother to discuss, in the context of D'Souza, that there may have been a mis...more
This was an interesting read. The author's premise is that Americans fear many situations needlessly, as a result of how the media give us information. Some issues you should lose LESS sleep over: school shootings; flying in planes; Halloween candy tampering; cyberpredators; children being taken by strangers. The author posits that fears promulgated by the media take our attention away from issues we feel are beyond our control, and give us something more manageable to worry about. For exampl...more
Glassner discusses the cultur of fear which is prevalent in the news media today and shows how various topics are continually presented, not for their accuracy but for their sensationalism. The problem with this is many of the stories, such as airline accidents, or middle-age heroin addicts that the media reports on are false. Scientific and statistical studies have found that on these topics the media is overplaying the anomalies. I appreciated Glassner's research and insight for clearly bringi...more
An enlightening book, Glassner uses basic statistics to prove many of the things Americans are scared of aren't as common as they appear to be and aren't worth our concerns. Likewise, he points out, many things that should scare us, like rising poverty rates, are ignored. Glassner indicates the media, both political parties, and individuals with different agendas are generally behind these scares, and leaves no one off the hook. He doesn't have a political ax to grind here.
Most of...more
Most of...more
The book is a little dated, but provides excellent research and insight into some of the biggest social plagues the media warned us against when I was growing up, and basically shows you what most of us going through the swine flu pandemic of 2009 already know. That the media is full of shit and feeds off of telling us what we are afraid of. It's a great read for the facts that it brings to light regarding the teen pregnancy epidemic, the crack baby epidemic, not to mention all the date rape dru...more
I can't help but feel that if you're a type of person who looks at more than point of view than this book is going to be very 'no duh' to you. That's how I felt reading it, anyway. It didn't matter that this book was written back in 1999 and focused primarily on the years 1993 - 1996; most of what Glassner was talking about were things I did when approaching news stories anyway.
While this book may be helpful to those trying to find a more middle ground in sensationalist news article...more
While this book may be helpful to those trying to find a more middle ground in sensationalist news article...more
As summarized on the cover, The Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner attempts to explain why Americans fear the wrong things. Throughout the text, Glassner deconstructs every cultural phobia and supposed nationwide crisis of the past twenty-five years from road rage, to teen gambling, to poisoned Halloween candy to internet predators. The structure of the book does not change in that he begins each section by introducing a specific phobia or issue, then proceeds to show how the media erroneously ex...more
Glassner is a sociology professor who sets out trying to figure out why the richest, most secure nation in history is afraid of everything. He does a great job connecting things like our fear of cancer to overprotective mothering to our fear of airplane crashes. What's even more interesting is that he wrote this before 9/11, it was published in 1999. Unfortunately, though, his liberalism is pretty strong and he enjoys laying too much blame at the feet of conservatives. He also comes to the c...more
I gave this five stars because for what it is, its exceptional - those of us in Critical Cultural studies will find it very "duh" but it is written quite well for a less over-read audience. I'm not talking down to it - it is obviously intended on initiating the uninitiated and it accomplishes this quite well. Its incredibly easy to read for a complex subject matter and presents a compelling argument. I highly recommend it as a starting point for anyone that isn't already convinced by t...more
I really like the ideas presented here, but I didn't realize this was written pre-9/11, and I would have liked to hear his thoughts on the current fear-mongering going on.
Loved this book. It's been said that an uneducated, and fearful society is the easiest to control. This book puts numbers to that. It especially incorporates the news media and their possible biases toward coverage, and the ramifications of their choices. The public's perception of things like crime, and criminals are usually in line with how the news portrays and covers it. But the news is usually disproportionately covering such topics. Fear and scary stories create interest and ratings.
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Intresting book showing lies promoted by the news and scientist manipulated for their own benfit. The study of abotions causign cancer by 50%, using only the info that abortions have increaded over the years and so has breat cancer. Even if that study was true, ciggarettes can increase the chance of cancer by 3000%. The irrational fear of flying is humorously trumped by vending machines. It shows that the real fears we should have are heart problems and other health issues, even though it is...more
I thought this was an overall spot-on book, but one section made me question the rest of the research therein--namely, the section on metaphorical illnesses and the subsection on breast implants. As I have learned through my work, breast implants do cause severe autoimmune diseases, among other symptoms, and I hope that the updated version addresses newer research that has come out. I think Mr. Glassner underestimates the impact of corporate funding on supposedly independent researchers--thoug...more
What politics and the news really add up to. One fear campaign after another. Elections are no longer decided by rational thoughts. Whoever can scare the voting public the most wins.
Fact: Tougher prison sentences and more prisons DO NOT discourage crime.
Fact: Decreasing poverty and increasing education DOES discourage crime.
Question: Why do we vote to build more prisons and impose stiffer penalties instead of using that money to discourage crime through adequate prevention - a...more
Fact: Tougher prison sentences and more prisons DO NOT discourage crime.
Fact: Decreasing poverty and increasing education DOES discourage crime.
Question: Why do we vote to build more prisons and impose stiffer penalties instead of using that money to discourage crime through adequate prevention - a...more
One of those books that literally will change the way you view the world.
although informative and well researched... i found it to be a tad pointless.
There are definitely some biases, but overall it provides a good look at how humans do a bad job of using logic and reasoning to decide what to fear. I would also really like a volume 2 to discuss the past 10 years because despite the author's hope for the future, I think we have actually gotten worse....or is that just my fear misguiding me? One of the final thoughts definitely still rings true especially in light of recent events: "Fear mongers have knocked the optimism out of us by st...more
I swear I had some notes I wanted to use for this review, but I can't find them now and will have to do this from memory, making my observations pretty limited. In short, I had mixed feelings about this book. Some of Glassner's points are obvious (the media sensationalizes, or even invents, many threats), some are thought-provoking items that have changed the way I thought, and in some cases I thought Glassner was being unnecessarily uncharitable towards the public's "fear" of certai...more
An interesting book. Not amazing, but not bad. I learned a lot of good trivia.
He does prove lots of black-and-white topics are surprisingly complicated, and reported unfairly. But after reading how the media distorts statistics to promote their views: why should I trust his counter-statistics?
It has reinforced my desire to not have a TV for a while, though. :) Although he never discusses that specifically in the book; you can't help but wonder if avoiding excess expo...more
He does prove lots of black-and-white topics are surprisingly complicated, and reported unfairly. But after reading how the media distorts statistics to promote their views: why should I trust his counter-statistics?
It has reinforced my desire to not have a TV for a while, though. :) Although he never discusses that specifically in the book; you can't help but wonder if avoiding excess expo...more
Teen pregnancy pacts, monster mothers who kill their children, psychotic drivers who attack after being cut off in traffic, and deadly airline flights - does any of that sound familiar? It sure does to me, and it's all on purpose according to this book because fearmongering is far more profitable than actually addressing issues that aren't sexy, new, or newsworthy. Why continue to drone on about insufficient textbooks and crumbling schools when the news can latch on to a teenager with a gun wh...more
In The Culture of Fear, sociologist Barry Glassner offers an intriguing thesis: that the major scares foisted upon the American public by a sensationalism-minded media may in fact be an indirect expression of cultural concerns regarding more complex, seemingly unsolvable issues. In Glassner's paradigm, for example, stories about crimes against the elderly, or of senior citizens abandoned outside nursing homes, reflect unspoken guilt within American society regarding the younger generations' tre...more
I was impressed with was Glassner's statistical analysis, various source sitings to back up his theory that a lot of fears are founded on media hype and not what we should really be concerned, but he also states what we can do to reduce the impact of these real concerns. I am not at all impressed by someone spouting off on unseen foes or telling me what I should fear, I understand the media need to sell copy. But I am impressed when someone has done research in order to show real issues that exi...more
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Barry Glassner has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, and has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. A professor of sociology at USC, Glassner lives in Los Angeles. His most recent book is THE GOSPEL OF FOOD: Everything You Think You Know About Food Is Wrong.
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