Barry Glassner The Culture Of Fear

The Culture of Fear In "The Culture of Fear" by Barry Glassner, he describes how it is our perception that dangers have increased more than they actually are. Glassner states about the prices we have to pay for our panics, as well as the time and energy we spend worrying about the dangers. He also explains all throughout this book how organizations and people use the populations fears as a way to make more money. The Americans are afraid of everything because the media's broadcasting of crime, drugs, violence and diseases. Road Range is a good example that Glassner uses in his book, "The Culture of Fear", because the media hypes it up more than necessary. According to Oprah Winfrey's talk show they reveal to the population that can drive
The media is at it again, hyping up stories about our youth, from school shootings, children gone missing, to teenage gambling, the media is trying to reinforce fears that there is an epidemic of youth violence. I believe that Glassner puts this in hi book to make us think about how much we watch on television is one hundred percent correct or if the media is putting false information to keep us scared. This makes you think, because you never really know what a child is going to do, but on the other hand you never really know what an adult will do either. Are we more interested in our youth then in the adults? Glassner puts a quote from Bob Dole that says" we must shift the focus on the juvenile justice system from rehabilitation to punishment" (Glassner 72). Glassner writes "Ignoring the fact that many juveniles serve longer sentences than adults for the same crimes, and that many juvenile facilities, grossly overcrowded and understaffed, provide rehabilitation services in name only" (Glassner 72). I believe that Glassner is trying to paint a picture to the readers that changing rehabilitation to punishment is not the answer, that maybe fixing the juvenile detention centers might work better. Glassner goes on saying that $30,000 or more per youth per year with over 100,000 youths behind bars on almost every day, the prison industrial complex is making money so they want to make sentences longer (Glassner 72). Getting back to the media, they thrive on youth violence. A very good example of this is the Columbine shooting, they showed the images over and over again to never let us forget what is in this world. Glassner states the 48% of all reports on children from CBS, ABC and NBC concerned with violence and crime and only 4% concerned or children's health, well being and economic issues (Glassner 72). Children should be worrying