We live in a world of fear. Fear, like anger, is a primal emotion. Like anger, fear short-circuits the rational mind. Fear often leads to actions and decisions that viewed objectively do not make sense. Fear also often results in such actions and decisions being perpetuated despite any evidence to the contrary.
Here is an interesting question and one that is linked to the topic of fear: why has the European Union (EU) not accepted Turkey's application for membership? This is a modern country with a strongly secular bias. It is a growing economy. Certainly the country is more advanced than many East European countries. Yet Poland was accepted and Turkey has not been. Why? Is it because the majority faith in Turkey is Muslim? Is there a visceral fear of the dreaded Turk storming the gates of Vienna? Objectively speaking, accepting Turkey makes a lot of sense for the EU. Turkey has a young, dynamic population. It is manifestly not interested in spreading Islam amongst non-muslims. Turks have not been participants in the global Jihadist movement. Turkey will inject much needed fresh blood into the EU. By its own estimates, European countries will very soon need to import thousands of workers every year in order to maintain their growth rates and living standards. This is a consequence of falling birthrates throughout the developed European economies. Where will these extra workers come from? Eastern Europe? Maybe in the short term but over the medium to long term, this source will dry up. The only alternative left are third world countries. Turkey is a logical choice. Yet there is strong opposition to the country joining the EU. What has caused this? It seems to be a fear of the other, the outsider. Again fear is causing people to react not only in an illogical manner but in one that is inimical to their medium to long term interests.
In other areas as well, fear makes people behave strangely. We have the rather strange phenomenon of majorities being afraid of minorities in a large number of countries. Sometimes this fear is economic. In many Asian countries, Chinese minorities enjoy a disproportionate share of the county's wealth thanks to their hard working ethos and strong family and community links. This economic success often breeds resentment and in times of trouble comes out in the form of pogroms against the minority as was seen during the fall of Suharto in Indonesia. Many other times, however, the majority fears the minority because of its religion. This is the case in India where many members of the Hindu majority seem to be afraid of the Muslim minority. It also seems to be the case in Pakistan where there is some fear of the Christian minority even though this is smaller than the Muslim minority in India. The fear that the majority feels for a particular minority sometimes results in (sometimes massive) violence against the latter. It frequently also results in an often unspoken, unacknowledged institutionalized discrimination. Again take the case of the Muslim minority in India. They represent perhaps 12% of the population. Yet their representation in various sectors of the economy ranges from 3-4% at best. Unsubstantiated anecdotal evidence suggests that amongst the general population there is a discrimination against Muslims in a community's daily life. Again fear seems to be a basic motivator.
This level of fear is by no means restricted to third world countries. Developed countries seem to have a particularly acute sense of this. The example of Turkey mentioned above is a case in point. Arizona, USA has passed a law that authorizes police to conduct spot checks on persons deemed to be possible illegal immigrants. Here there is a fear that the country or state is being swamped with illegal immigrants who are taking the jobs of local residents and who are responsible for criminal actions even though the evidence suggests otherwise. Indeed, the USA, the most powerful country in the world and one with the largest economy has been in a collective zone of fear since 9/11. It is because of this fear that ordinary citizens have allowed an extra-ordinary erosion of their civil liberties to take place; an erosion that is steadily continuing.
So fear means that we turn a blind eye to actions and events that in the long term are harmful to our personal and national interests. We are unable to perceive the danger we are in because our rational mind which would warn us is bypassed when we live in a state of fear over a period of time. The interesting aspect is that over time we come to accept living like this as the norm. It is only when we move out of the environment that we realize how warped our thinking and our personality had become due to fear.
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Here is an interesting question and one that is linked to the topic of fear: why has the European Union (EU) not accepted Turkey's application for membership? This is a modern country with a strongly secular bias. It is a growing economy. Certainly the country is more advanced than many East European countries. Yet Poland was accepted and Turkey has not been. Why? Is it because the majority faith in Turkey is Muslim? Is there a visceral fear of the dreaded Turk storming the gates of Vienna? Objectively speaking, accepting Turkey makes a lot of sense for the EU. Turkey has a young, dynamic population. It is manifestly not interested in spreading Islam amongst non-muslims. Turks have not been participants in the global Jihadist movement. Turkey will inject much needed fresh blood into the EU. By its own estimates, European countries will very soon need to import thousands of workers every year in order to maintain their growth rates and living standards. This is a consequence of falling birthrates throughout the developed European economies. Where will these extra workers come from? Eastern Europe? Maybe in the short term but over the medium to long term, this source will dry up. The only alternative left are third world countries. Turkey is a logical choice. Yet there is strong opposition to the country joining the EU. What has caused this? It seems to be a fear of the other, the outsider. Again fear is causing people to react not only in an illogical manner but in one that is inimical to their medium to long term interests.
In other areas as well, fear makes people behave strangely. We have the rather strange phenomenon of majorities being afraid of minorities in a large number of countries. Sometimes this fear is economic. In many Asian countries, Chinese minorities enjoy a disproportionate share of the county's wealth thanks to their hard working ethos and strong family and community links. This economic success often breeds resentment and in times of trouble comes out in the form of pogroms against the minority as was seen during the fall of Suharto in Indonesia. Many other times, however, the majority fears the minority because of its religion. This is the case in India where many members of the Hindu majority seem to be afraid of the Muslim minority. It also seems to be the case in Pakistan where there is some fear of the Christian minority even though this is smaller than the Muslim minority in India. The fear that the majority feels for a particular minority sometimes results in (sometimes massive) violence against the latter. It frequently also results in an often unspoken, unacknowledged institutionalized discrimination. Again take the case of the Muslim minority in India. They represent perhaps 12% of the population. Yet their representation in various sectors of the economy ranges from 3-4% at best. Unsubstantiated anecdotal evidence suggests that amongst the general population there is a discrimination against Muslims in a community's daily life. Again fear seems to be a basic motivator.
This level of fear is by no means restricted to third world countries. Developed countries seem to have a particularly acute sense of this. The example of Turkey mentioned above is a case in point. Arizona, USA has passed a law that authorizes police to conduct spot checks on persons deemed to be possible illegal immigrants. Here there is a fear that the country or state is being swamped with illegal immigrants who are taking the jobs of local residents and who are responsible for criminal actions even though the evidence suggests otherwise. Indeed, the USA, the most powerful country in the world and one with the largest economy has been in a collective zone of fear since 9/11. It is because of this fear that ordinary citizens have allowed an extra-ordinary erosion of their civil liberties to take place; an erosion that is steadily continuing.
So fear means that we turn a blind eye to actions and events that in the long term are harmful to our personal and national interests. We are unable to perceive the danger we are in because our rational mind which would warn us is bypassed when we live in a state of fear over a period of time. The interesting aspect is that over time we come to accept living like this as the norm. It is only when we move out of the environment that we realize how warped our thinking and our personality had become due to fear.
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