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By raising the fear level, media ratings rise (more web clicks, remote control clicks, etc) and so do the advertising related sales, but eventually it all comes crashing back to earth.
You can blame the media for spreading most of this ignorance. When people are afraid, they seek relief. In American life, this is assuaged by purchasing merchandise.
This is a well known (in some quarters, anyway) psychological phenomenon - some call it "retail therapy".
Of course, this does not work in the long run, and has many bad side effects.
Like, eating too much and dying from coronary disease, mortgaging your home to the hilt and losing it in foreclosure, stressing out over having what the Joneses have that you don't and going broke keeping up, fighting for position at work and feeling forever inadequate, and voting for whoever tells you what you want to hear so they can fuck you over after they are elected (see Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and McCain).
Does anyone else see the irony of political parties paying the media billions of dollars for advertising during an election cycle, and the electorate actually expecting truth from media reporting which benefits from the parties' largesse?
You can, of course, choose to receive information from more reliable sources, and enlighten yourself.
I feel sad for those people who are so "afraid" of Senator Obama.
For those afraid of Palin, not so much. She's ignorant like a fox....
