What Good Is Fear?
Carlos Santana is one of the great musicians of the past half century. But for some reason, perhaps due to a systemic flaw in human civilization, famous musicians almost always lose touch with reality. Today, Carlos Santana sent the following John Lennon homage out to his thousands of Facebook followers.
What would the world be Without FEAR
1) There would be no WAR
2) There would be no hatred
3) There would be no separation
>From your own light
4) There would be no lack of anything
5) There would the end of the illusion that there is not enough for everyone
6) There would be only one flag as all countries & nationalities would live as 'one'.
7) There would be visible rainbow angels everywhere
8) All people would be happy & at peace
Please feel free to add your own
By Carlos and Cindy
(The elegant simplicity of this version of human nature is reminiscent of the old hit War by Edwin Starr.)
From what I could tell, the response from Santana's fans to this claptrap in the comment section was overwhelmingly positive. As conservatives and libertarians, of course, we know this is folly. Or perhaps, because we know this is folly, we are conservatives or libertarians. Economic scarcity is real. Familial affection and tribal behavior are in our genes. Rainbow angels, based on the current best evidence, remain invisible.
But the biggest whopper here is scapegoating fear as the root of all evil. Fear is a natural, healthy human emotion. It evolved (or was given to us by God) to help us survive in a dangerous world. It is an unreasoning instinct that protects us from harm, drives us to improve, and prevents us from doing stupid things.
I would like to ask my fellow Riconizens, besides the three vague reasons I gave above, what good is fear to you? Or, if you are so inclined, what bad?
- Comment (49)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (5)
Comments:
Apr '12
Re: What Good Is Fear?
Fear is the most uncomfortable of emotions and for those who are emotionally undeveloped it is the greatest adversity, the greatest adversary, so they call it evil.
Without fear there is no signal that there is danger and there is no prudence to flee or courage to face it.
No prudence, no courage ... well why would Leftists need such things anyway, they're going to save the planet!
Dec '11
Re: What Good Is Fear?
Without fear we would pet rattlesnakes.
Fear is good. Fear keeps us alive. An absence of fear will not remove hate or greed or desire or anger or PMS - it will only remove caution.
May '10
Re: What Good Is Fear?
Americans used to respect "God-fearing" men, and for good reason. In a perfect world, love would be all we need. In the real world, fear is the saftey net which catches us when our love fails.
Ideally, we should uphold our moral and legal standards out of respect. But no person's will is so steadfast that he or she never ignores or rationalizes that respect away for some temporary selfish indulgence. In those moments, a healthy fear can stop that person from acting his or her own values.
We all experienced this as children. We first learned to obey our parents for fear of punishment (toddlers). Then we learned to understand and trust; to obey for love, (pre-teens). Finally, we suffered as we lost that fear of our parents and indulged in foolish, selfish fantasies (teenagers).
A saint fears God, and nothing else.
Jun '12
Re: What Good Is Fear?
What good is fear?
It captures the restless whirring of our scattered attention as a bird is caught in a net. Forcing us to abandon self reliance: it distills roiling fluid desire into potent aching need, teaching gratitude and trust in the heart crying for rescue.
It is the dirty window through which we first view God.
Proverbs 9:10..."The commencement of wisdom is the fear of Jehovah, And a knowledge of the Holy Ones is understanding."
Mar '11
Re: What Good Is Fear?
Maudlin gushing nonsense. For God's sake, Mr. Santana, please stick to playing nasty guitar riffs and cease and desist from offering any further pearls of "wisdom".
And, pray tell, just what is a rainbow angel?
May '11
Re: What Good Is Fear?
This is just another utopian fantasy of the left. Fear is innate not just in humanity but biology. It's like their crusades against self interest: OK, have fun, and I'll check back in a million years to see if you're 1% done yet.
May '12
Re: What Good Is Fear?
From a biblical POV, fear entered human nature through Adam's fall, and consequential separation from God (i.e. a perfect God cannot countenance sin--or imperfection, as it were--and so any further relationship with same could only be achieved indirectly).
So, in that sense, what Carlos Santana, and others desire is a return to that state of grace which was man's former oneness with the Creator. However, what they tend to want to believe is that it can be achieved through human effort, goodwill or what-have-you, whereas, God has required that it be realized only through the shedding of innocent blood: Not a very new-age friendly concept, but the heart of our much maligned Judeo-Christian traditions.
Oct '10
Re: What Good Is Fear?
I disagree that economic scarcity is real. The conservative line, as I understand it, is that conservatism leads to the removal of economic scarcity. Even the very poor in America live like kings compared to third-world standards.
There's plenty to go around for those who work.
Sep '10
Re: What Good Is Fear?
Top ten list of features of world without fear:
10) huge stock market bubble develops as the greed vs fear dynamic no longer holds. Bubble only bursts when all disposable cash is mis-invested. Economy collapses.
9) Life expectancy drops to 14 due to skyrocketing mortality rates from people falling off buildings and cliffs, automobile accidents, petting rattlesnakes, and well, just about every other cause. Civilization ends.
Ok, I couldn't get to ten.
Edited on July 30, 2012 at 1:41pmSep '10
Re: What Good Is Fear?
Joseph Eagar: I disagree that economic scarcity is real. The conservative line, as I understand it, is that conservatism leads to theremoval of economic scarcity. Even the very poor in America live like kings compared to third-world standards.
There's plenty to go around for those who work
This is a joke right? Or troll bait?
Dec '11
Re: What Good Is Fear?
They confuse things like fear and hate. For example, people who hate homosexuals (aand I mean legitimately hate them, not simply disagree with the GLBT alliance) are said to be homophobic. That you can hate something without innately fearing it seems to be beyond their abilities.
Feb '11
Re: What Good Is Fear?
Mark Wilson:
Of course there would be war. Lots and lots of it. Fear keeps people from starting up with people who are stronger. Things like "balance of power" and "mutually assured destruction" are both real and useful.
Sep '10
Re: What Good Is Fear?
They're right. You can't hate what you don't fear.
Jun '12
Re: What Good Is Fear?
Mister D: Without fear we would pet rattlesnakes.
Fear is good. Fear keeps us alive. An absence of fear will not remove hate or greed or desire or anger or PMS - it will only remove caution. · 6 hours ago
Without fear we'd walk into traffic.
We could create a whole thread just for examples.
Oct '11
Re: What Good Is Fear?
If it doesn't exist how can it be removed?
Jan '11
Re: What Good Is Fear?
A relationship without fear is cheap. It cheapens what trust is.
There's a big difference between saying that
Jun '12
Re: What Good Is Fear?
Great guitarist, typically blinkered liberal politics. What good is fear? Without it, we'd all be dead. We would something stuid like see if we could fly off a cliff, etc. It is arguably the most valuable emotion for survival. In the economic realm it is what gives rise to moral hazard, the notion that you cannot divorce high risk behavior from the negative consequences. It is what keeps things like major investment banks from leveraging themselves 40-50% and buying trillions in toxic mortgage assets. Oh wait....
Feb '12
Re: What Good Is Fear?
Joseph Eagar: I disagree that economic scarcity is real. The conservative line, as I understand it, is that conservatism leads to theremoval of economic scarcity. Even the very poor in America live like kings compared to third-world standards.
There's plenty to go around for those who work. · 4 hours ago
We're referring to economic scarcity in the economist sense, meaning that there is not enough fill-in-the-blank for everyone to get all they want.
Now, free markets are great for the removal of poverty -- that is, everyone gets enough to survive. Also, under the free market, more people can live more comfortable, happier lives than under any other system.
But there aren't enough cows to have filet minion on every plate, enough land for everyone to have 40 acres, or enough colleges for everyone to have a degree. Thus, we have to choose what to buy with our scarce (aka limited) resources.
Aug '10
Re: What Good Is Fear?
What I want to know , on the scale of relativistic comparisons, is how well
Leon Panetta can play the guitar ?
Jun '10
Re: What Good Is Fear?
Who does Carlos Santana fear?
Probably, Tea Party extremists: