S: In October 2015, Chapman University released their annual list of America’s greatest
fears.
K: Turns out, America has a LOT of fears ranging from clowns, zombies, and ghosts to more serious,
arguably legitimate, concerns.
S: Famed political commentator, Noam Chomsky has said that America is “an unusually frightened
country”, compared to the rest of the world.
K: So we wanted to know, what are America’s biggest fears?
S: Well, most of the US’s fears fall into specific categories.
On average the most feared topic is Man-made Disasters.
Of those, unsurprisingly, the first is terrorism.
K: More than 44% of respondents reported being afraid or very afraid of terrorist attacks.
But as a matter of a fact, the rate of terrorist attacks has been steadily dropping since the
1970s, with the main exceptions being the September 11th attacks, and more recently,
the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing.
Along the sames lines, Americans are terrified of the possibility of bio warfare.
S: But, actually, aside from the 2001 anthrax attack where live spores were sent through
the mail, killing 5 people, the greatest use of biological agents on US soil has been by
the US government.
In 1977, the US Army revealed that from 1949 to 1969, the military conducted more than
200 tests, releasing simulated toxins in a number of major cities.
These tests were suspected to have caused at least one death, and ten hospitalizations.
But perhaps the most likely man-made disaster is one we’ve recently experienced.
Economic collapse.
K: In 2008, the global recession caused a 777 point drop in the US stock market, the
largest in US history.
Even though the economy has significantly recovered, a number of factors that caused
the original collapse are still plaguing the US, such as “too-big-to-fail-banks”, and
derivatives trading.
S: After man-made disasters, Americans are deeply afraid of increasingly pervasive technology.
First on the list, cyber terrorism.
K: This one is actually really scary.
According to US intelligence agencies, cyber attacks are considered the number one threat
to national security due to the US’s extremely weak internet infrastructure.
In particular, Russia and China are the most aggressive cyber attackers.
But some also fear domestic misuse of technology.
S: Specifically, technology we rely on every day also represents an invasive violation
of privacy.
Services like Google and Facebook collect significant amounts of personal data, and
we often don’t have control over what they do with it.
K: Similarly, leaks in 2013 by whistleblower Edward Snowden, revealed the government’s
mass surveillance program, run by the NSA.
Both corporate and government tracking of personal information represents some of America’s
biggest technological fears.
S: In fact, the US government itself inspires the country’s single greatest fear: fear
of corruption.
K: With 58% of respondents reporting high levels of fear, government corruption clearly
keeps people up at night.
As frequent political scandals dominate headlines, US officials working against their constituents’
best interests is clearly a very real concern.
S: Other high ranking fears are focused on the environment, our personal futures, and
natural disasters.
K: But while government corruption tops the US’s list, on average, the rest of the world
is most concerned about the effects of climate change.
S: To learn about some of the world’s other fears, check out our video on what countries
fear the most.
K: And if you happen to be interested in a more satirical look at politics and global
issues, check out my channel Newsy News and if you like it, subscribe.
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