Fear

Rich Butler
English Composition 111:801
Lauren Garcia-Duplain
6 September 2006

Our Friend, Fear

The police siren blares down the highway. Another “perp” is going to get his comeuppance. Sure he’s carted off, and depending on what he did, he’s going to get a fine or maybe even some hard time. Yet, fortunately for the rest of us, this scene isn’t an all-day affair with cops dashing from one occurrence to another. But why? Take burglary, either petty or grand theft. It seems like a smart way to make a living: taking other people’s hard work and making it your own. What’s lying within reach is good for the taking. If there was no fear of legal repercussions, annoying people could easily be dealt with through murder and incomes would be unnecessary because whatever you wanted, object or action, would be yours at your command. However, we, as America, have decided on a number of morals that are agreed upon to be best if upheld with the help of law enforcement. Still, as seen on any news station you happen to turn on, law enforcement doesn’t stop these “immoral” actions. However it is considerably less than what it could be. But why is that? Citizens as a whole are afraid of their police. Is this good? Is it O.K. to use “the right kind of fear [to keep] us from doing wrong?”
Firsthand, I have witnessed this. As a simple example, speed limits are a barrier that the fear hopes to hold in check. The speed limits themselves don’t keep people from surpassing them. It’s the police. And even then, that doesn’t stop everybody, also a firsthand experience. But since the police can’t be everywhere at once and make sure that people obey these laws, all they can do is hope that the laws are being complied with. They hope that the driver will be in a constant state of fear so that paranoia will set in. They hope for paranoia to the point that the driver will stay below the limit in fear of a police car popping up at moments notice. But still the question remains: Is it good or right to use fear in this way?
In some instances, yes. The cases mentioned early on, burglary and murder, would cause a general chaos should everyone act upon these principles. Anarchy, which is what would ensue, is derived from the prefix an-, without, and the root arch, meaning leader, exactly what has happened, a lack of leadership. The leadership in this case is fear. Through fear, we had order and guidance.
However, what right does anyone else have to set us in this constant state of apprehension? “It’s My Life” says Bon Jovi and Queen asks that you “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Music aside, each of us has his or her values and priorities. And what right does anybody have to govern what I feel is right and what is wrong?
Personally, I feel that the fear that our government instills in us is being used for the right reasons. Those reasons are the protection of and the provision of equality for all American citizens. Without this fear to keep us in line, our free will would eventually lead to such a state of chaos and disorder that it would almost be impossible to differentiate humans from the other animals of the earth. It is the fear that separates us from the wild and the beasts.