DYSLEXINOMICON: Fear Fatigue

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Fear Fatigue

Synonyms: Unknown

Category: State of population affect

Definition: Not a stock phrase used by info speak as such. Rather, an assessment of the conduciveness of psychological forces within a given audience to the techniques and strategies of info speak. In a model I call the Receiptivity Continuum, it is the point at which continued use of info speak tactics begins to yield diminishing results.

The primary general strategy underlying info speak's numerous specific tactics is the appeal to audience fear. From the point of view of sparking prompt action, it is a very effective strategy. Fear may be the single strongest human emotion, the one provoking the most immediate and least ambirguous reaction -- fight or flight. Secondary strategies such as fragmentation, ambiguity and incoherence serve to intensify the effect and enhance the audience's identification with the speaker.

However, there are serious drawbacks related to the exploitation of fear. Firstly, since fear prompts immediate action, persons acting under its influence are not likely to make considered calculations of long-term implications. Each hastily undertaken action is therefore likely to result in both unforeseen negative consequences and reduce his or her capacity for the prolonged rational thought required to address the situation.

Secondly, in the context of public discourse, an audience's inducement to fear by a speaker is predicated on that speaker's ability to provide relief. A programme of prolonged provocation will, over time, gradually reduce the audience's faith in the speaker's ability to do so, if not cast doubt on his or good intention itself.

The eventual result will be a kind of flame out, a point in time at which a critical mass of individuals are simply no longer willing or able to sustain continued fear. This I term the point of "Fear Fatigue".

It is usually not possible to definitively identify the specific point in time of Fear Fatigue's inception or completion, since it is a group phenomenum. It normally takes place over a protracted period. While the specific trajectory of the flame out will vary among individuals, the overall result is certainly a reduced or even extinguished support for the speaker, his or her specific programme and its underlying ideology and conceptual framework.

Inquiries into the nature and history of Fear Fatigue have led some to posit a theoretical alternative state called the "Joy Inflection"--a point at which discourse is driven by more positive emotions like love or mutual respect.

Etymology: Name of a 1980's pop band from Manchester, England.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Submission and editorial policy of the Dyslexinomicon

The core of entries to the Dyslexinomicon have been gathered during my many years of field observation.

Due to the need to make each entry as broadly applicable to a general audience as possible, most entries represent the distillation of the observations of numerous, unrelated individuals. Given the sometimes sensitive nature of the communications involved, efforts have been made to strip all entries of information which may specifically identify individuals. No reference to specific individuals, living or dead, should therefore be inferred.

Although I am more than pleased to receive and acknowledge feedback and submissions from interested blog readers and colleagues, and efforts will be made to accomodate reasonable differences of opinion within the scope of this project, all final editorial decisions will be made by myself, without right of appeal.

Subject to the policy articulated above, submissions and feedback may be directed to me at: dyslexinomicon@gmail.com.

Why is the Dyslexinomicon needed?

It is needed because, for many people, the fragmented and often prima facie incoherent rhetoric of the information age leaves them feeling confused, distressed, and ironically, uninformed. They may feel that they have no reliable way in which to evaluate the flood of information information inundating them daily.

Over many years of study and professional practice I have observed an increasing number of such cases. These individuals tend to be quite representative of their communities and are often "high acheivers"--with above average I.Q.'s and good educations and are usually well-employed. I believe they are at the normative centre of a sick dynamic, rather than at the aberrant edge of a healthy one.

Pragmatically, there is little that these people can do. Pending favorable developments in the wider culture which are largely out of their control, the best that they are likely to acheive is a "cognitive bridge", some systematized way for themselves, as individuals with a healthy desire for cognitive coherence, to interpret the strange and fragmented "info speak" that prevails in the society around them. My hope is to develop the Dyslexinomicon into such a bridge.

"Info speak" is a broad term describing the style of discourse currently prevalent in our culture, commerce, and politics. I could have chosen any number of terms for this style of discourse, but I feel "info speak" is particularly appropos since the apparent redundancy not only clearly evokes its ironic inscrutibility, but also obliquely references the primary industry of our era, the economic engine driving its cognitive framework -- information management.

"Info speak" is characterized by a pithiness which is intended to convey an attractive sense of vigorous vitality and drive activity. Expressed in terms that may be disturbingly vague when viewed with an objectively critical eye, it can, however, for its intended audience, acheive a spectacular rapport and persuasive power.

The fragmentary, incomplete nature of "info speak" is in a way its unholy strength. The speaker appeals to his audience's vanity by offering them an opportunity to fill in the missing blanks from a more-or-less commonly understood store of cultural norms. Pride reinforced by having selected the "right" answers, the audience often attains an impressively high level of identification with the speaker. Each entry for the Dyslexinomicon will entertain a specific example of this dynamic as practical illustration.

But that strength is unholy, a profound debility short-circuiting productive discussion. While the underlying store of cultural norms to which "info speak" appeals may be more-or-less commonly understood, it is not reasonably complete with regard to the common sense ways in which its audience experiences the world. Many are morally reprehensible. Indeed, this feature of "info speak" seems calculated to provoke its audience to self-defeating behaviours.

But a caution. Any person publicly objecting to the narrow confines of "info speak" in search of greater coherence should beware that he or she is likely opening him or herself up to charges of naivete, stupidity or immorality. Objections are usually not viewed as sincere or legitimate, but rather as threats to the established harmony among the community and its patrons.

And that seems to be the lynch-pin in the array of cultural norms to which "info speak" appeals: an authoritarian group dynamic. Here fundamental choices about the conduct of public affairs, structure of behavioural incentives or application of sanctions has been remanded largely to a small self-selected group of wealthy elite whose decisions are not open to question. Possibilities for enhancing the current operation of our economy, polity and society are foregone for what is vaguely hoped to be a benevolent status quo.

DYSLEXINOMICON

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Fear Fatigue

No comments:

Post a Comment

Submission and editorial policy of the Dyslexinomicon

Blog Archive

Followers