What I fear most

I wrote this commentary some time before I started this blog. Recent stories about media distorting health fears have made a revised version relevant again.

What has been worrying me recently is the undercurrent of hate, bigotry and fear in society. We all know it is far easier to react against something, than to stand up for something you agree with. However this does not fully explain why I feel so worried about the stress and anger in modern living.

The term "Asylum seeker" has been made to be a synonym for "potential illegal immigrant". People are now convinced we're being over run, and while the asylum system is may be in a mess, the situation is not anything like the alarmist coverage claims it is.

Children are safer now than they ever have been, but the increasingly shrill news coverage has convinced parents that cases like the Soham murders, are on the increase, and it is not safe to let your kids out. What is on the increase is sensitivity to and fear of danger; not the dangers themselves.

Earlier this year skewed coverage led people to believe the scientific community was divided over the safety of the MMR vaccine, to the point some people think it is riskier than not having it.

Distorted perceptions of risks are dangerous as people will also take actions to make their lives safer that have the opposite effect; running their kids to school, avoiding vaccines, not letting them play out and develop social skills and street sense. My main worry though is that driven by hate and fear, people will run to those who pander to those fears and exacerbate them, rather than those who will actually do something about them.