Fear is an important driver of human behavior. It takes precedence over joy and feelings of well-being. It is also, according to recent studies, recognized quicker and responded to earlier. A study at Vanderbilt University showed that individuals react more quickly to a fearful facial expression than to faces displaying emotions such as joy and happiness. People also react with more intensity to fear. The study was published in the journal "Emotion."
Fear is one of the main reasons behind the decision to move to suburbia. The suburbs are perceived to be safer. That is true as far as robbery and aggravated assault are concerned. You are more likely to walk into a robber in the city. It is more unlikely in suburbia simply because there are few places to walk and fewer people to walk into. Direct physical threat is often cited as a reason to move to "a better neighborhood."
Murder is the crime most feared, but murder is really rare and makes up a small percentage of violent crime even in such crime ridden cities as Washington DC. Random murder is even more rare and random or serial killers are actually more likely to fit the profile of a socially adequate, intelligent and stable father figure -nearly all are male-. Not surprisingly, such types usually live in the suburbs.
But the more visceral murder is drive-by shooting or gang violence. This type of activity is inner city and it is often confined to very specific areas of larger cities. Although random shooting may affect bystanders, these are usually residents of a particular neighborhood. Few people living in such neighborhoods ever end up in the suburbs.
The news media play a big role in driving anxiety and fear of violence. Because the media focus on "newsworthy" items that grab attention, newscasts offer a very statistically biased view of the world. By repeating images and video over and over they create the illusion of something much bigger in scale and much more dramatic in scope than it really is. And by just focusing on newsworthy items they create the impression of high frequency even for very rare events.
Here is another example of people making the right decisions and producing the wrong outcome. The bias is further reinforced when received by individuals sitting alone in their oversized living rooms with little or no personal communication. These individuals have nobody to talk to who can put things in perspective for them. They are like frightened rabbits hiding in a hole and only meeting other frightened rabbits.
Fear and anxiety become even more exaggerated when it comes to one's offspring. The desire for a "good school" is another often cited driver for moving to suburbia. Many who lived in cities all their lives and who enjoyed city life will move when they are about to have children. And the desire for "good schools" is driven by fear on several levels. One is the fear for direct violence and harm to the child, either at school or on the way to school. Many parents will tell you they drive their kids to school because they are afraid something may happen when the kids walk to school. They never mention that those kids may get fat in being driven everywhere. Obesity is not an imminent threat.
Even though these parents walked to school as kids, they will tell you things are different now. The world is less safe. This perception is due to a distortion introduced by the news media and reinforced by some who stand to gain from it. There are no real data to back it up and what data there are usually show the opposite trend. But whatever these people may think, they have few options living where they do. Walking to school is simply not so easy anymore. Suburbs have few side-walks, and streets are filled with military style vehicles. Hummer anyone?
A more indirect fear is the fear of a poor education. The fear that the child will be left behind and not have a chance at an ivy league future. This fear has led to numerous silly changes. Parents think their child has to learn high school grade material in kindergarten. Some proudly display their three year olds reading novels or playing concertos. Again there is a profound lack of common sense, and nobody to talk to to put things into perspective. While it is possible to train a three year old to perform, there is little or no evidence that this carries over into adulthood.
Although the news media play an important role in all this, they aren't the only ones to blame. There are also the legions of those standing to gain from all this fear. The ones advertising gated communities, bigger and "safer" cars, more expensive private schools, additional tutoring, etc. Many in business and politics thrive on fear. There is nothing like it to get people to open their wallets and sign away their rights.
As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
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