The U.S. Patriot Act and Civil Liberty: The Culture of Fear and Mass Media as
Abstract
The tragedy of September 11, 2001 immediately plunged the country and the world into a complex journey of soul searching. The action of Congress in passing the U.S. Patriot Act soon after the tragedy best reflects this complex journey of soul searching the country and the world embarked on, although, reluctantly. The paper will address the complex reality the war on terror created, which is reflected in the climate of the culture of fear. The political, social, cultural, economical, and ideological implications of this culture of fear will be explained in this paper. The societal reaction or some time referred to as the labeling perspective, will provide the theoretical framework to help us shed light on the complex reality of the culture of fear. The basic premise of this paper is that the culture of fear and the role the mass media played in facilitating and fostering this culture of fear reflects a dangerous trend the country and the world embarked on where civil liberty is being sacrificed for the sake of a sense of security or perhaps better labeled a false sense of security. The event of September 11, 2001 sent shock waves throughout the country and the world. The scale of destruction and devastation in terms of human life and property was difficult to comprehend. This single act of a horrific crime took the lives of over 3,000 Americans and caused great deal of property damage that will cost the country billions of dollars to rebuild. However, the psychological scars of this act of terrorism will take longer time to heal. Diverse emotions followed this horrific act of terrorism including shock, disbelief, anger, outrage, and, most importantly, fear. This act of terrorism managed to unite the country with its diverse populations including immigrants from other parts of the world. However, the response to this act, not initially, managed to divide the country and the world, which was unfortunate. The question raised was what went wrong? And most importantly, how did these feelings of unity and patriotism lead to this culture of fear? In order to provide a critical assessment and analysis of the culture of fear and most importantly how it relates to the event of September 11, 2001, the Patriot Act and the war on terrorism, it is imperative that we provide a clear definition of the culture of fear.