State of Fear

As a living, breathing human being with an uncontrollable urge to like and angst just about anything culturally stupid or utterly interesting to the senses, I am fully cognizant with the notion that fear is an inevitable sensation common among all living and breathing human beings walking the Earth.

Fear is what we blurt out every time we come across a carton of milk exceeding its expiration date, knowing that disregarding the apparent warning would make us spend three in the bathroom, regurgitating chunks and chunks of hardened dairy product. You and me both know that the scenario I just mentioned is a not a pretty sight to see; tons and tons of unsightly vomit. And I could just imagine becoming the unsuspecting victim; clutching my stomach to relive the abdominal pain and all, and nothing can scare me the most than abdominal pains and three hours of relentless vomiting. But I'm not going to talk about expired dairy products here. What I'm trying to explain is not about constipation and expired milk. What I'm really pointing out is that fear is an essential component, not only in the individual, but also in this dog gone society. Philippine society in particular, which becomes too irrational to a certain point that it induces more groundless hysteria than lucid crisis handling methods. And this doesn't just happen in a  Southeast Asian nation, but it also occurs in ostensibly rational Western societies.

Recent news reports revealed alleged terrorist plots that would likely happen within the good old capital itself: Manila. The United States, with the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand following suit, issued travel advisories warning tourists to be wary of an imminent danger of a terrorist attack by (wait for it...) Islamic extremists.This precautionary action was raised following the discovery of a parcel bomb destined to blow up Jewish houses of worship. The parcels, which came from Yemen, provoked fear among the paranoid public since the aftermath of 9/11.

And as a result of this reaction wrought by peculiar contents in a box, Western countries released travel advisories in an effort to protect their citizens who want to go on an island hopping expedition in the Philippines from possible instances of a terrorist attack. Take note that these are just travel advisories, and not bans. So why should we, especially businessmen with interests in the tourism sector, be perturbed by the policies imposed by other countries?

We are "enjoying" a considerable amount of threats already. We have extremists terrorizing most areas of Mindanao, and add Communist rebels then we have a party-and not a good one at that. As a matter of fact,  these groups are in existence even before those parcel bombs arrived at a Chicago airport and much earlier than the September 11 attacks at New York. So it's okay for fear to set in. I mean, we have gotten used to North Korea having a stockpile of hidden nukes, we should also feel the same with these threats knowing that they can occur spontaneously.

There is no air of hysteria suffusing into Philippine society right now-because most of society is already distracted by noontime shows and Justin Bieber. It's not like America in the 1930's when Orson Welles created quite a stir among the populace with his mockumentary/science fiction opera. I guess society is getting used to have homicidal maniacs walking the streets from time to time. You can blame it all on the mass media, but you should also put all of your blaming energies to the reality of having religious zeal and nationalism laying around the hearts and minds of suicide bombers.

So why should we worry? Why should the US, or Australia, or New Zealand worry? Despite sophisticated technology epitomed by the latest bomb detecting devices, that still can't stop the fervor of a common enemy to inflict massive dilapidation. We are now getting used to fear, and it is quite annoying in some cases to send a paranoid travel advisory that would mostly protect more of foreign tourists than locals.

Fear is a defense mechanism, much like high tech warning devices installed around Bill Gates' crib. Defense mechanisms are essential to secure our properties, especially Mr. Gates' Microsoft blueprints, from burglars and spies and also with malevolent intentions. So fear works much like an alarm to stir us up into action against those trying to breach our privacy. But we can also note that warning devices can be annoying to the ears of its owners who are protected by them, given there are technical malfunctions of some sort and other electronics related problems within their structures. This could spell great annoyance to these owners who will become so exasperated with the noise that they'll pretty much throw them out to the dumpster.

Just like in society. Feeding the fire makes the flames grow. Much like how these foreign countries are doing. They're sending warnings that don't even benefit us in every level.

Here's a painful reality: The world is in a current state of fear. And we are getting accustomed to it.