So much to be scared of – now that’s scary

As FDR said, we have nothing to fear but fear itself, but there’s a lot of it around these days.

There are periods of time etched into our collective psyche. The Chinese had their dynasties, and the Cultural Revolution (more like the cultural annihilation). Picasso had his blue and rose periods, and England, the Elizabethan, Victorian and Edwardian eras. Never to be forgotten for those of my generation: The lingering Cold War era.

Now it appears to me that we are deeply entrenched in a time period not as clear, but just as terrifying. We seem to be chindeep in a terrifying new era.

The Era of Fear.

Mankind has always had great periods of fear, generated by fear of war, pestilence and fundamental religions. Now it would seem we fear everything. As I drove through Christchurch last week I began to think about the relentless feeling of fear so many of us allow ourselves to wade in.

Will this time on Earth be just regarded like the bland early 2000s, which certainly endured the fear of terrorism? Or, is our legacy going to be everybody’s fear of everything? I began to disassemble the fear structure. I looked at the layers, and concluded that many of us here in New Zealand, and possibly around the world, are ruled by fear.

The fear of Covid-19 will quite possibly have a new name. Just like World War I, which until 1939 was referred to as the Great War, Covid-19 may be known as ‘The First Wave’.

Fear of poverty. Houses are too expensive, unless there is a miracle or generational wealth. Food, doubled in price. Travel, too expensive for the average person. Vile drugs like meth seeping into every level of society. Streets we could once walk, now more dangerous than Manhattan in the 1970s or the East End of London in the 1880s. Home invasions on people who could little afford to lose anything, perpetrated by people too cooked to care. Prisons full to bursting with people caught up in the poverty cycle.

Fear of losing money. People already exceptionally wealthy, frightened to let go of their wealth for fear they might lose it all, and therefore hoarding it or buying up everything in sight, only to sit like Smaug on their piles of gold and treasure.

Fear of saying the wrong thing. We need to live our lives not causing harm, but this political correctness has been sucked up by nearly everyone, bar the bubble-protected white male talkshow hosts, who appear able to say outrageously offensive things, with little regard or blowback. Most of us must carefully regard everything we say on social media, on the radio and in print. Mobs of keyboard warriors are ready with burning crosses. Thus, we have a healthy fear of saying or writing anything before passing it by HR.

Fear of HR. Who are they? They are the ‘‘secret police’’. Ally of the worker of the corporation? No idea. They incite fear nonetheless.

Fear of not working hard enough. Fear of losing our jobs. Fear of not making a budget, not getting the ratings, not being seen to be toeing the company line. Many of us have spent decades succeeding through the fear of not succeeding. The enjoyment of the career is eclipsed by the fear of not meeting floating expectations.

The fear of love and lust. Dating apps have made us wonder if romance has been beaten down, and now our only chance of physical love is through a fast fornication app. Fear that love and a growing relationship is no longer a commodity, and that the willingness to get your clothes off quickly and move on has become the number one way to get a bit of ‘‘love’’.

Fear that if the secret police find out we’re not perfectly recycling, eating organically, that we’re ingesting gluten, carbs and meat, we’ll be outed, ostracised, and locked in the stocks in the middle of Civic Square. Fear of wearing anything not made of homegrown organically farmed bamboo, hemp, or hand-raised alpaca fibres. Fear of cyclists arming themselves against the evil drivers. Fear of a vegan revolution. Fear of meat and its ugly sister, sugar.

Fear our children will either grow up to be smart kids with good degrees but no jobs. A fear our children will drop out of society and spend their time marching for the climate. Fear the Earth will suddenly become covered in ice, or a global desert. A fear of saying anything out loud that isn’t scripted or edited. Fear of doing anything ‘‘live’’.

Fear of technology leaving us behind. I don’t have a hybrid car. I’m not confident about the security of buying from China online. Fear of being hacked (happened to me twice). Fear of missing out. Fear of not knowing what I’m missing out on. Fear I’m on some spectrum. Fear of being irrelevant, although being relevant comes with a fear of being exposed to haters and trolls. Fear the police are watching. Fear the police are too busy catching meth criminals to watch. Fear Google can read our minds, or at the very least our phone interactions. Fear of being alone, and fear our children will never leave home.

Are we now living in the era of mass fear? Did George Orwell’s 1984 foretell the future?

Due to a mix of fearlessness and indifference, I choose not to read comments on my columns. I never do. But I would be lying if I didn’t mention it also includes the fear that some wealthy, hemp-wearing vegan who owns a recycled spy camera won’t come at me like a mad gold and diamond sword, trying to cut me to shreds.

I fear cryptocurrency – that it’s the world’s biggest practical joke. Good luck with that.

‘Are we now living in the era of mass fear?Did George Orwell’s 1984 foretell the future?