The old adage about media used to be, 'if it bleeds, it leads. The 2021 adage is 'fear sells.'
During the past 14 months since the pandemic really began in America, the media has ramped up the fear. It continues today. On Monday, May 10th one Phoenix television station has three fear-based COVID headlines on their website alone.
Headline 1: How concerned should we be about global COVID-19 outbreaks?
Headline 2: Can Businesses require COVID-19 vaccinations? The short answer: yes.
Headline 3: Even after vaccination immunocompromised people are still facing the threat of COVID?
Fear sells. Fear also means website clicks and shares on social media.
From BrainWorld Magazine:
Counterintuitive though it sounds, there’s a real biological basis behind our attraction to fear. Fear raises our adrenaline, creating that primal, instinctual fight-or-flight response. This in turn releases epinephrine, a hormone and neurotransmitter that produces, as many “adrenaline junkies” will attest, a deeply satisfying sensation.
Exactly what the media wants.
Fear is not just what the media exploits, politicians exploit it too.
For example, Dr. Anthony Fauci (not technically a politician, but close enough) said on CNN on Sunday, hopefully by next Mother's Day we can go back to normal. Dr. Fauci also suggested over the weekend masks could become seasonally permanent. So much for a way out of this.
President Biden himself saying, 'there are a few Covid-19-related exceptions so that people aren’t forced to choose between their basic safety and paycheck.'
Fear sells.
Even the World Health Organization (WHO) loves to sell fear. The WHO is monitoring a COVID variant in India, saying, 'the variant, known as B.1.617, has been found in preliminary studies to spread more easily than the original virus and there is some evidence it may able to evade some of the protections provided by vaccines. The shots, however, are still considered effective.'
However, too much fear is unhealthy. Long-term exposure to fear can do funky things to the human body.
From Mayo Clinic:
During the fight or flight response your body is trying to prioritize, so anything it doesn’t need for immediate survival is placed on the back burner. This means that digestion, reproductive and growth hormone production and tissue repair are all temporarily halted. Instead, your body is using all its energy on the most crucial priorities and functions.
Imagine, 'digestion, reproductive and growth hormone production and tissue repair,' being halted for the long-term? Media, social media, and politicians continue to exploit fear for their own benefit. Ironically, too much stress on your body makes your more vulnerable to COVID and more vulnerable to severe symptoms of COVID.