Here is an insightful video which reveals how scaremongering has actually become a respectable enterprise, with businesses selling their goods by engaging with public anxieties. It also reveals how to treat scare stories with scepticism, expose them for what they are, and bring scare tactics firmly down to earth. And once again, let us re-emphasize that the scaremongers are wrong and the world is not such a bad place!
The Scaremongers are wrong, as spreading fear creates anxiety, plain and simple. Let us explain as we think the world is not as bad as it seems. In fact, the world has been getting better, much better over the years and centuries. If you’re not convinced I suggest grabbing “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress”, by Steven Pinker.
It is unfortunate that peddling fear has become a way of life, but we should ignore it. Scaremongering is by no means new, but it has erupted in the digital age. Most of us hang around the web and social media at least a few times a day. And add to this the dozens of apps on our phones feeding us information, often filled with fearful stuff. The COVID panic and hysteria are the most recent episodes, but there were many more before. The past is filled with the talk of mass destruction, mass extinction, SARS, avian flue, nuclear holocaust, and cyberterrorism, among many others.
If we go 50+ years back, then we would find countless examples of scare campaigns prophesized by politicians, news outlets, celebrities and other prominent figures. Here are just a few examples of outrageously fearful predictions from Paul Ehrilch, a Nobel Prize Winner:
These doom-preaching statements of course turned out false, but this is not where the story ends. There have been many moral panics in the recent history such as the war on drugs, immigration, the red scare, HIV/AIDS, war on terror, and sexual revolution all of which turned out vastly exaggerated. And yet, baseless fearmongering in the media continue to shower with attention. And the resulting fears can unnecessarily dictate daily habits and negatively alter the way individuals lead their lives.
Here is an insightful video which reveals how scaremongering has actually become a respectable enterprise, with businesses selling their goods by engaging with public anxieties. It also reveals how to treat scare stories with scepticism, expose them for what they are, and bring scare tactics firmly down to earth.
Once again, let us re-emphasize that the scaremongers are wrong and the world is not such a bad place!
At FutureEdge CFO, we partner with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies in the manufacturing and industrial sectors to unlock liquidity, accelerate EBITDA growth, and drive valuation expansion—without disrupting leadership execution.
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The FutureEdge CFO Academy (“aka” Blog) is our central repository for all meaningful information and content that FutureEdge CFO cares for and supports, which we package and make accessible to anyone who visits our site to facilitate creative thinking and inner reflection. We aspire to cultivate a growing body of knowledge that is uniquely our own, but is acquired externally, and we share it to promote the values we stand for, but also to help make sound decisions and take the most effective action.
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