Healthcare Debate and Scare Tactics - Essay Example

? Healthcare Debate and Scare Tactics of the of the Concerned May 24, Healthcare Debate and Scare Tactics Introduction Irrespective of the fact that the 21st century is known to be the age of Information Revolution, there is no denying the fact that each and every fact and information conveyed by the media to the public has an unavoidable emotional and psychological issue tagged to it. The Americans in the present times may choose to think that most of their political decisions are backed by rational thinking and analysis. However, the reality is that the people today are as much exposed to fear and psychological influences as they were in the past. In that context the recent usage of scare tactics by some sections of the corporate world, media and politicians is an apt example of the usage of psychology knowledge and knowhow to influence public opinion and approach. The Health Debate It is a known fact that the healthcare is an issue of debate in the current American politics. The Obama administration wants to reform the healthcare system. However, there do exist people in the American political and corporate life who do not want these reforms to succeed. These people want the American people to oppose the healthcare reforms. These people are using the psychological weapon of scare tactics to make the people afraid of reforms and thereby oppose them (NPR, 2009). They are spreading the word that the reforms will make the healthcare system like the way it was during the Great Depression, when only the rich afforded medical care (NPR, 2009). In fact the opponents of health reforms are going as far as to claim that the system that these reforms will create will be somewhat like the health system existing in the communist countries. Some of them have gone as far as to say that the proposed reforms intend to convert the American democracy into a communist system. Thereby, by associating healthcare reforms with something bad that happened in the past or something that people hate and are scared of, these people are trying to scare the masses about the present reforms. This may cause some people to oppose the reforms (NPR, 2009). To put it simply, the opponents of healthcare reforms are using scare tactics. Psychological Importance The psychological importance of the media event under consideration is that it clearly shows the exploitation of psychological tactics by a section of the American politics, corporate life and media to scare people regarding the proposed health reforms and to make them go against the proposed reforms. The psychological weapon used by these opponents of the health reforms to subvert public opinion is popularly known as the scare tactics. Scare Tactics Scare tactics is a psychological weapon that has been used by people since ages. It is based on the simple fact that fear is the most common human emotion. The human brain tends to remember the things or incidents that cause fear. In future when a person comes across a thing or incident that reminds him of the past incident that caused fear, the person responds to this stimulus by getting scared (Goleman, 1996). Suppose a person at some time in one’s life came across a poisonous snake and got scared. Then at some other time in the future the same person came across a rope lying in the dark. That person’s brain may associate that rope with the snake and may cause him to get scared, irrespective of the fact that the rope is not the snake. The use of this psychological phenomenon to achieve results in politics and social life is commonly known as scare tactics. Scientific Explanation of Scare Tactics The part of the brain that stores the facts pertaining to past incidents and objects is the hippocampus. In contrast the part of the brain that stores the emotions associated with the past incidents and objects is called amygdale. For example if a person comes across a car accident, it is the hippocampus that stores the facts associated with the accident like the stretch of road on which the accident occurred, the make and model of the car the person was driving, the time at which the accident occurred, etc. However, it is the amygdale that stores the emotions of fear, pain and helplessness that accompanied that car accident. So when a person comes across a similar situation in the future, say while driving on the same stretch of road, the emotional memories of fear and pain stored in the past in the amygdale come to the surface without the voluntary control of that person. Hence, a person under such circumstances feels the same fear and pain as he felt in the past, though the accident has not taken place in reality. Explanation of the Selected Media Event The opponents of the health reforms are using this psychological information to subvert the public opinion. They know that the memories associated with pain and fear related to the Great Depression and Communism are stored in the amygdale of many of the American people. So when the compare the health reforms to the Great Depression and Communism, the fear stored in the subconscious or amygdale of the American people re-emerges without any voluntary intention on their part and that fear, though associated with the past events and concepts, scares them thereby turning them against health reforms. To put it simply, the opponents of health reforms are playing on the mental biochemistry of the American people. Treatment May sound strange but scare tactics is known to have a high success rate. This is because once the people get scared; they very rarely care to analyze their fear by cross checking and verifying the facts that are used to scare them. The use of fear tactics in political and social life can be prevented by making people more aware of the accurate facts and information. This allows the people to rationally analyze the information being spread by the unethical people and helps them get over their fear. Conclusion Strange, but psychological phenomena and mental biochemistry have immense relevance in the world of politics and business. The sad thing is that many a time people are unaware of the most basic psychological facts and end up becoming victims of such psychological propaganda. Thus it is important that people should not give in to irrational fears and try to analyze the facts presented to them in a logical and rational manner. References Goleman, Daniel (1996). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. NPR (2009, August 28), In Health Care Debate, Fear Trumps Logic, Retrieved May 24 2011, from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112315433 Read More