The Paradox of Fear

Fear has always been our trusty survival mechanism. Back in the day, a sudden rustle in the bushes wasn’t a squirrel; it was something that fancied you for lunch. Fear kept our ancestors alive, made them quick on their feet, and gave them a healthy suspicion of things that went bump in the night. Fast forward to today, and fear has undergone a curious transformation. While the right-wing press keeps whipping people into a frenzy over threats that are as real as a unicorn invasion, humanity at large seems to have misplaced the fear that actually matters.

 

Take the media’s greatest hits: waves of migrants, shadowy “woke” conspiracies (turns out no one’s cancelling Christmas), and the steady erosion of “traditional values” (whatever they are this week). These phantom terrors have an uncanny knack for riling people up, even though the evidence supporting them could fit on the back of a postage stamp. Why? Because fear is big business. It sells newspapers, drives clicks, and convinces people that only the most chest-thumping leaders can keep them safe.

Meanwhile, genuine existential threats are met with an impressive collective shrug. Rising sea levels? Meh. Biodiversity collapse? Yawn. The ticking clock on climate change? Let’s worry about that tomorrow - or maybe next week. It seems that our primal instincts just aren’t up to the job when the danger doesn’t have fangs or isn’t waiting to pounce in the dark. If it’s not immediate and visceral, we’re oddly calm, like the chap who sees smoke pouring from his oven and decides it’s a good time to make tea.

This disconnect is, frankly, a bit of a disaster. We’re devoting enormous amounts of energy to panicking about imaginary bogeymen while actual dangers quietly tighten their grip. Imagine being terrified of a mouse in the corner while ignoring the tiger lounging on your sofa. The fear that once saved us is now being hijacked, distorted, and aimed at entirely the wrong targets.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Fear, when it’s focused on the right things, can still do its job: making us pay attention, motivating action, and helping us dodge the proverbial tiger. We need to redirect it - away from nonsensical threats and towards the crises that really matter. Rising temperatures, vanishing ecosystems, dwindling resources - these are the things that deserve our fear (and not the kind of fear that makes us hide under the duvet but the kind that gets us off the sofa and into action).

So, let’s be clear: fear isn’t the problem. It’s who - or what - is steering it. The question isn’t whether we’ll feel fear, but whether we’ll use it to survive or let it keep us distracted by nonsense. Because while the unicorn invasion may never come, the rising tide most certainly will.