By Paul H. Betancourt
Years ago, John Stossel asked the question, “Are We Scaring Ourselves to Death?” Look at the language we use. We now have Polar Vortexes, Cyclone Bombs and Atmospheric Rivers. We used to call it winter.
We have “Ultra-processed foods”. It used to be called ‘processed foods.’ (For the record-food is safe when they leave our farms. But, come on – look at what we are eating. I like cooking from scratch. But, when I go to the grocery store there is row after row of frozen and packaged temptations. But, I am getting off track.)
So, who benefits from all of this?
- Media-This extreme language creates click bait for the news media. They get more eyeballs and sell more ads.
- Politicians-It helps the politicians and advocate groups rant and raise money for their next campaign.
- Bureaucrats- Extreme language helps the bureaucrats expand their empires and gives them even more opportunities to stick their noses in our lives.
It’s sensational and it’s sensationalism. Extreme language does not help the public discussion.
When I taught Business Ethics, we defined conflict of interest as ‘using public position for personal benefit.’ I am not necessarily accusing anyone of conflict of interest, but can we agree that the interests of the folks in media, the politicians and the bureaucracy may not necessarily align with the rest of us?
Are we being jerked around? Years ago when I was more active with Farm Bureau we spent a lot of time on air quality issues. Sure, there were things that needed improvement. But, neither the daily paper nor the clean air advocates would ever admit that air here in the Valley was orders of magnitude cleaner than even the early 90’s. When I asked why? Their answer was, “. . . if we tell people things are actually better they will stop trying to improve things even more.” Isn’t that a little cynical? A bit manipulative? It seems they never read the stories of The Boy Who Cried Wolf or The Story of Chicken Little when they were kids. You can be right, but you can also blow your credibility.
So, what do we do?
I tell my students that we are participating in a two-century long experiment in self-government. If that is true, how do we get good information to form our opinions and guide our actions?
We stay informed. I ask my students, how do we stay informed with biased sources? The answer is we need multiple sources. That takes more time, but the alternative is letting one side or another run roughshod.
We participate. Again, the idea that we are in a centuries long experiment in self-government. Consider the alternatives. I cannot think of any alternatives I like. Mr. Churchill is quoted as saying, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”
I would agree with John Stossel – we are scaring ourselves to death. Anxiety and depression among our young people are high. They are not old enough to have any historical perspective and the sources they are taught to trust are saying we are near disaster. No wonder people live in existential dread. Sure, we have problems to solve, but we are not going to solve them by scaring people. That is manipulation. The fact is that we live in a time with the most prosperity and the most freedom for the most people in human history. Let’s hold on to that. Let’s celebrate the victories and then push on with the real problems we face.
Paul Betancourt farmed full time in the San Joaquin Valley for 38 years and is a Past President of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. In semi-retirement he still farms 27 acres of almonds, is a Lecturer at Fresno State and on staff at La Vina Covenant Church in Kerman.
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