Insecurity

I found this week's discussion on insecurity very interesting because there are many ways in which to view perspectives on insecurity. This is part of the theme that we tried to introduce in class on Friday. In addition to the propoganda and commercials that we viewed, which show the media's plight to create insecurity in the customer (therefore resulting in more security when they purchase the product), the group also found some facts that show some other perspectives.

One of the points that I tried to emphasize is the fact that perception is often what causes insecurity. Many points in the Mueller article give examples of this, one of them being about Osama Bin Laden, no matter how far-fetched it seems. Mueller mentions that perhaps the hype over terrorism can create more damage than the terrorists themselves. Al Qaeda and Bin Laden have caused an extreme attack on the United States, but also consider the results of their actions and the fact that the U.S. has been searching for him for so many years. The amount of time, people, and money that this takes, in addition to security increases, has spent an incredible amount of resources.

Some other concepts to consider are how we consider ideas within our country such as homocide. Because of the media and how homocides/school shootings are shown throughout the country, it is easy to believe that the homocide rate has gone up recently and must be at a high now. The truth is that from 1992 to 2005, the number of homocides in U.S. schools actually decreased significantly(1). Something else that was mentioned in this week's article, was the fact that the total number of people worldwide who die at the hands of international terrorists is not much more than the number who drown in bathtubs in the U.S. (2). Therefore, why are we so worried about terrorism and not about drowning in a bathtub?! This is a perception of insecurity that we have.

Once we determined a theme for this week's class, it was easy to find examples. You begin to realize how often we generalize and look at society 'through glasses,' without actually looking at facts. Sometimes it is better this way, yet at other times it creates maniacal behavior and it would be better to understand the facts.


1. "Serious Violent Crimes in Schools." 28 Oct. 2007. http://youthviolence.edschool.virginia.edu/violence-in-schools/school-shootings.html

2. John Mueller (2005) Simplicity and Spook: Terrorism and the Dynamics of Threat Exaggeration International Studies Perspectives 6 (2), 208–234. doi:10.1111/j.1528-3577.2005.00203.x