Beyond Fear and Scarcity to Calm and Abundance

            Modern American culture tries to convince people to be afraid, and that their worth as a human is determined by their net worth. A person’s value is not determined by their amount of money or economic productivity. The American Dream consists of housing, healthcare, jobs (or income, such as maybe universal basic income), and having meaningful relationships. At times, some feel these are becoming more difficult to achieve.

One of the steps of genocide is dehumanization. What is dehumanization? It usually consists of convincing people that another person, or group of people, has done something bad, or has some other bad quality. And because of this bad thing that they have done, or bad quality that they possess, then fear is justified. And then once you have convinced people that this group has done something bad or has some bad quality, and fear is justified, then once people are afraid, then violence is justified.

In many ways, we are retracing the steps of the 1920s and 1930s. We have had a Great Recession and polarization. Now again, President Roosevelt’s phrase, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” is highly relevant. I reject politics of fear. The War on Drugs creates a fear of people who use drugs. I reject a fear of people who use drugs. (This does not mean that drug use is good, which it is not.) The War on Terror creates a fear of people who are Muslim. I reject the fear of people who are Muslim. (This does not mean that terrorism is good, which it is not.) Dehumanization is used to create a fear of people who are Jewish, people who are immigrants, and others.

In contrast with fear and scarcity, there is calm and abundance. People are enough the way they are.

Correction: I included the idea in the first sentence also at the end of the first paragraph, so I removed the sentence at the end of the first paragraph.