Phobia: Collecting in the History of Fear

Sean Quimby, who will be teaching a new class next semester of American Fear, has analysed the concept of fear in America. For children, fear is things like the boogeyman and monsters. As people become older they develop phobias of things like spiders, heights, ect. Phobias are an irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that lead the person to avoid it at all costs. Phobias cause the person to have a persisting essence of isolation. They are loan figures in their own mind. The study of fear is centuries old. Charles Darwin, in his book Expression of Emotion: Man and Animals believes the emotion of fear is innate and is something that is not learned. In The Culture of Fear, the author Glassner accuses the media for creating fear in people. They stereotype and emphasize things such as black men, road rage, teen mothers, and pornography which are many topic which people fear.

Through these works and many others, Quimby hypothesised that Americans have a dogged invasion fantasy and we believe in a gradual emergence of a therapeutic future. Evidence of this existed throughout Americas history. A prime example of our invasion fear is the famous alien invasion broadcast by Orson Welles. He had thousands of citizen convinced that it was a real alien invasion and in turn they feared for their lives. As a result of our fears, we are encouraged to talk to help us overcome them. Many years ago, people were encouraged to talk about their fears even though it was slightly looked down upon for man to have phobias. Nevertheless, people were always encouraged to talk as a means of therapy.

Quimby's hypothesis about American fear seems to be right on cue. The fear of envasion has been evident since the birth of America when Columbus set foot on this land in 1842. White settlers who practically stole the Native American's land fear that they would retaliate in return. Whites tried to put them in reservations to prevent them from invading their new land. Later on in American history, the South had a strong hold on the slave to keep them from revolting. They would use those who stepped out of line as an example for other slaves by whipping and hanging them. And now every American fears another terrorist attack. After we were invaded at the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001, we fear another devastating penetration on the country by terrorist. Americans have always believed in a therapeutic future. Now at days we have professionals who specialize in fear therapy. There are psychological specialist in the area of fear and phobias to help us alleviate our fear problems through the means of talking.