Barry Glassner
Forfatter af The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things
Om forfatteren
Barry Glassner is a professor of sociology at Lewis Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
Image credit: barryglassner.com
Værker af Barry Glassner
On the intelligibility of Prejudice 1 eksemplar
Associated Works
The Sociology of Health Promotion: Critical Analyses of Consumption, Lifestyle and Risk (1995) — Bidragyder — 13 eksemplarer
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Barry wrote this book in 1999, so it a whole different social landscape of fear than we have now. However, one can see the parallels between our worlds and a somewhat belabored book could be summed up in a handful of points. Let me see if I can do this.
People begin to see the things that they fear. Perhaps, we are all hypochondriacs at some level.
I have laughed at myself at this weakness, but I think we all have it. When exposed enough to an idea (fear), we will believe it.
Trust but verify.
Sex sells but fear may sell even better.
Finally, I know so much less than I thought I did after reading this book. We all really do.… (mere)
People begin to see the things that they fear. Perhaps, we are all hypochondriacs at some level.
I have laughed at myself at this weakness, but I think we all have it. When exposed enough to an idea (fear), we will believe it.
Trust but verify.
Sex sells but fear may sell even better.
Finally, I know so much less than I thought I did after reading this book. We all really do.… (mere)
Started reading this as an ebook of the original edition from the Open Library, saw the new edition on my public library's shelves and grabbed it to read the updates. This is a terrifyingly clear look at the way news media (and the politicians who manipulate it) focuses our cultural fear onto the wrong things, thus preventing us from appropriately addressing the things that really are dangerous (namely driving, guns, poverty, guns, prejudice, and guns).
Not terribly useful if you have ever read anything else in a similar vein. The author switches topics rapidly, citing statistics and using anecdotes which are probably just as dubious as the ones he questions. He has a thesis of sorts; that these unreal fears are frequently proxies for the real problems people don't want to face. They tend to be simpler, and easier to think about; and consequently what people want to read about. This is probably why I ignore the news, because I get disgusted by these simple-minded, tear-jerking stories.… (mere)
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Glassner rips down the curtains on our ideas on food and eating and leaves the reader powerless and confused on what to believe. This is not meant as a slam to the writer because that's his point: we don't know a whole lot about food.
Hearsay, poorly designed studies and conflict of interest taint what we do "know". Read the book to figure out what you don't actually know.