Ever hear the phrase "unreasoning fear"?

Examples of it abound. Dozens of times each week, stories like the ones below come to our attention, but they are so commonplace that everyone takes them for granted, as normal responses to dangerous situations. But, I've got a problem with that kind of thinking.

The first story concerns a second grade student who was suspended from school for drawing a gun. Did he draw it on a group of terrified classmates? On a teacher? No and no. He drew it on a piece of paper, the little anti-social psychopathic terrorist.

From Yahoo News, 10/20/07:

DENNIS TOWNSHIP, N.J. - A second-grader's drawing of a stick figure shooting a gun earned him a one-day school suspension.
Kyle Walker, 7, was suspended last week for violating Dennis Township Primary School's zero-tolerance policy on guns, the boy's mother, Shirley McDevitt, told The Press of Atlantic City.
Kyle gave the picture to another child on the school bus, and that child's parents complained about it to school officials, McDevitt said. Her son told her the drawing was of a water gun, she said.
A photocopy of the picture provided by McDevitt showed two stick figures with one pointing a crude-looking gun at the other, the newspaper said. What appeared to be the word "me" was written above the shooter, with another name scribbled above the other figure.
School officials declined to comment Friday. A message left at the superintendent's office Saturday was not returned.

The second story is about some poor schmuck who was fired after his boss discovered that the fellow had suffered a "super bug" staph infection two years ago.

From The Raw Story 10/25/07, with video:

CBS 4 News in Miami reported on Wednesday that hysteria over the "superbug" Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has caused a local man to lose his job. MRSA has been around for years but has recently been responsible for a highly-publicized surge in fatalities, causing more deaths in the US than AIDS and leading to widespread panic.
Morris Yomtov mentioned casually while at work at the Hollywood Telemarketing Company that he'd had MRSA two years ago after getting some scrapes on his arms while clearing trees downed by a hurricane. About an hour later, his boss called up to say he was fired. Yomtov told CBS 4 that his boss refused to listen to explanations, telling him, "It wasn't around two years ago, it's only been around now, so you must have it."
Yomtov's doctor gave him a note saying he was completely infection-free, but his boss refused to even take it from his hand, asking him to FAX it instead. Now the company is not returning Yomtov's phone calls and also refused to talk to the CBS 4 news team.
"I'm not Typhoid Mary," insists Yomtov, who has filed a federal employment discrimination complaint.
The following video is from Miami's CBS 4, broadcast on October 24, 2007. (access thru link above)

This is what happens in a society that is constantly told to fear EVERYTHING. Common sense and reason fly out the window. The government and the media have created a culture in which everything is an enemy out kill you. There is no longer any "risk assessment" and we are conditioned to react punitively and automatically, in a panic reflex that leaves no room for thought.

Since when do either the child or the now-healthy adult deserve the treatment they received?
A moments reflection will reveal to even the most convulsive house-wrappers that they were hapless victims of stupid responses to non-existant threats. But, because of the incessant drum-beat of fear mongering, they don't take that moment to think. They no longer have any balance or even any understanding of what's been done to them. And that is scary stuff, because they are 100% ripe for control by any person or government who promises to make them safe.

Poor dupes they are, and what's worse, I'm gonna be controlled too, because of their fear. When we are so divided by fear, when everyone else and everything else can instantly become your enemy, we are no longer capable of standing together to resist the real dangers that threaten us. Like our own government.