It seems like the more we learn the less we know.  As people “study” we learn more and more about everything from how insects reproduce to the existence of planets outside of our solar system.  We do massive “big data” studies on human behavior and social trends and think we understand people.  Soon we discover that there is more to know than any one person can know.  And we often react to what we do not know with fear.  (Think covid.)   The people that do know often play on that fear to make sure they keep getting what they need (money) from us to keep what we fear at bay.  (Again, think covid.)  It is time we learned what, and what not to fear.

There has been much effort in recent weeks to scare us silly about hantavirus and lately ebola.  These diseases deserve our respect, but not our fear.  What we need to fear is the mischief that will be played upon us if we allow ourselves to sink into fear about them.  Put more generally, we need to fear people, not things.

And don’t get me started on environmentalists.  Ever since we invented nuclear weapons and thought we had created the means to destroy the planet we have chased one environmental demon after another out of fear.  One of the latest bug-a-boos is “microplastics.”  According to some they are going to kill all the marine life and clog up our lungs.  But then we learn:

Researchers from the University of Michigan recently published a study presenting evidence that nitrile gloves could significantly affect readings of microplastics, donating particles that are virtually indistinguishable from substances like polyethylene. Nitrile gloves, by the way, are the standard gloves recommended for use by microplastics researchers.

In other words, the use of standard lab gloves are resulting in much higher measurements of microplastics than are actually there.  People make mistakes, things are just things.  I fear people, not things.

I fear a nuclear armed Iran.  They would use the things to kill lots of people.  I fear violence against religious institutions.  They did kill a lot of people.  I fear Graham Platner getting elected in Maine.  His election would signal something very sick in voters.

One has to wonder how much of the lunacy that seems to infect us right now stems from our over-reaction to covid. Our fear took hold, when respect was all that was called for, and we shut down the world.  That shutdown warped minds and communication in ways it may take decades to understand and overcome.  Do you think a Nazi-tattooed communist could win a primary before covid?  I don’t.

Frank Herbert, in the Dune books, had some of his characters repeat a mantra when they felt fear overcoming them.  It included the line “fear is the mind-killer.”  So it is, it suspends our ability to reason and cope – it produces irrationality where reason is most necessary.

The book of Proverbs opens this way:

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

To know wisdom and instruction,
To discern the sayings of understanding,
To receive instruction in wise behavior,
Righteousness, justice, and integrity;
To give prudence to the naive,
To the youth knowledge and discretion,
A wise person will hear and increase in learning,
And a person of understanding will acquire wise counsel,
To understand a proverb and a saying,
The words of the wise and their riddles.