Why are we so scared?

I go through the news and I see articles like this one on consumer confidence, this one on a potential war with Iran and the news that nearly 1 in 10 of us have diabetes. Want some real fun? Look up the word happiness in a news aggregator. I got headlines about job satisfaction, economic security and oddball headlines of many stripes. A few tidbits in all.

Then I typed in "Murder." You guessed it: 10 pages of murder from around the world with more to go. I got sick of it. Look at the top stories on any news page. Politics, violence, terror and fears of disease, famine and catastrophe are the top stories.

Is it really all about ratings? Hardly. If it were, the news programs would look like American Idol or some other silliness. Most people don't follow the news. Many get their news from headlines.

WORLD AT BRINK OF WAR! or Economic Outlook is Grim or Climate Change will Kill Us All! are all some people read, day in and day out. Have you ever stopped to think about who really benefits from those headlines? Why should we be so afraid?

Is the world less safe today than when Genghis Khan was sweeping across a good chunk of it? Are we in more danger than when Krakatoa caused massive global climate change and the never-ending winter for a year? Why should we be so scared?

If you are willing to go through the answers, the evidence points to economic gains for government, some portions of the business sector and, of course, the media outlets. But we are also distracted from other important stories. Did you know that Wal-Mart is facing 80 class action suits related to employees being mistreated? Not important, right? After all, that's just a bunch of people we don't know crying about a problem we can't fix. Or that's what we're told.

Wonder who's buying up the "eco-friendly" energy markets? Why, in the span of one year did we go from a conservative movement that despised the mention of global warming to Pat Robertson and Newt Gingrich advocating for drastic efforts to battle climate change?

It's nuts. Or is it?

Wonder why you're either "right" or "left" in this country anymore? There's more to this than meets the eye. No, I can't wrap this up for you neatly. If I could, I'd run for office. I guess I'd just like for you to question your fear.

We fear each other. We don't know each other. That's an odd state of affairs.

Think about it, and thanks for reading.