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Fear and Cowardice
Fear is a primal source of motivation of human behavior. While I have no background in anthropology or sociology, it seems plausible to accept this as a trait we have carried forward with us from our primitive origins. The flight of an animal from a perceived danger is a behavioral trope which is directly related to self-preservation and survival. The human mind, however, is capable of rational inquiry and therefore the ability to parse presumed dangers into those that are imminent and those that are unlikely. In this way, some fears are reasonable and others are not. A strange man waving a hand gun and babbling incoherently on the sidewalk in front of your house is probably a good reason to fear for your safety. A black teenager in a hooded sweatshirt walking past your home is not.
We live in a social milieu wherein fear is employed as a tool of manipulation. After 9-11, our unreasonable fear of terrorist attacks allowed us to surrender many of our civil liberties. How unreasonable? In 2011, according to statistics compiled by research scientist Dr. Wm. Robert Johnston, 6 people died in this country as the result of a terrorist attack (the Tucson shooting attack in which Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was wounded which was not an incident of “Islamic terrorism”)*. In the same year, 89 people per day died in car accidents in this country,** yet, we are not particularly fearful of driving.
Among our political leaders, it is not uncommon to find fear cynically employed as a means to further agendas. We are reminded that we must fear the growing national debt, and thus acquiesce in counter-intuitive economic policies. We have been told to fear the reforms of the Affordable Care Act, with the consequence that nearly half the population believes the law is a “bad idea” without any knowledge of the law’s details.***
“Fear has its use but cowardice has none.” -Mahatma Gandhi
The Wikipedia entry on Cowardice offers this description:
“Cowardice is a trait wherein fear and excess self-concern [my emphasis] override doing or saying what is right, good and of help to others or oneself in a time of need—it is the opposite of courage. As a label, "cowardice" indicates a failure of character in the face of a challenge.”
George Zimmerman, acquitted in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Treyvon Martin, is a coward. He carried a loaded firearm. He provoked a confrontation with Martin which resulted in a physical fight. Apparently unable to prevail in the fight, he used his pistol to end it. It was the classic act of the coward.
In my nearly seven decades of life, I have observed the following: None of us are always courageous or always cowardly; we are at different times one or the other. I have also observed that cowardly behavior, that human trait of not doing or saying the right thing because of fear and self-concern, seems to be more prevalent now that ever.
Fear is mostly irrational. We are seemingly living in irrational times.
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