First of all, I am very sad to see this class end.
What I
will miss most about the Culture of Fear course are the discussions we had as a class
every Monday. It was completely content-driven, and provided ample room for
differing opinions which were inevitable with the material at hand.
We examined the themes of our readings, how those themes affected us personally, and what it meant for the central idea of the course: examining the prevalence of
messages of terror in the mass media. Many classes and discussions stick out in my mind-- any time we talked about 9/11 I always learned something new or gained a fresh perspective I hadn't thought about before.
I was eleven years old when the World Trade Centers went down, and my parents comforted me as best as they could. They assured me that I was safe, cared for, and everything was going to be okay. Because I was so young and naive, I was not able to grasp the magnitude of the situation. Interestingly enough, it is only while watching the President speak on TV that I started to get nervous. Really nervous.
Was Boston next? Were Al Queda terrorists lurking on street corners, unbeknownst to us innocent bystanders? This class has shed light on the systematic, calculated agenda implemented to encourage this kind of fear.
Fear invites vulnerability. It provides an opportunity for those employing the fear to take advantage of a lot of people who are scared senseless. After 9/11, journalists stopped questioning the government's interpretations of events, which some people may deem patriotic. To me, it is blatantly irresponsible. So much time has passed since that fateful day, but a number of myths that the government produced to instill fear are still believed today. We HAVE to question the government's take on events! Otherwise, our autonomy will disintegrate.
I refuse to live in a country where citizens blindly believe a source that is clearly not credible. The government has an agenda, and this reality has to be taken into consideration with every single decision that they make on our behalf.
I think that a student can take what they have learned in
this course and react in one of two ways. They can allow the fear that is
injected into our society to handicap and isolate them, or they can become
active members of a movement centered on truth, honesty, and government
accountability. I tell people all the time about what my Communication classes
have taught me about government manipulation. More often than not, it blows
their minds and opens the door to a real discussion.
What I’ve realized from this class is that I need to be
an active member of society, one who speaks out about moral wrongdoing in our
media. It is only through activism that anything will change.
