Welcome to a much abbreviated 12/9/16 version of 5-Shot Friday.
How abbreviated? It’s down to a 1-Shot Friday – a looong 1-Shot (in part to make up for last week’s absence, while I was traveling at a conference).
In toto, it’s about the length of three 5-Shot Fridays.
Why We’re Living In The Age Of Fear, by Neil Strauss
This article by Neil Strauss appeared in the October edition of Rolling Stone magazine. It’s about 21 page scrolls from start to finish – an article that’s more like a book chapter.
Totally worth your time.
Excerpts follow:
The Setup
“If this election cycle is a mirror, then it is reflecting a society choked with fear. It"s not just threats of terrorism, economic collapse, cyberwarfare and government corruption – each of which some 70 percent of our citizenry is afraid of, according to the Chapman University Survey on American Fears. It"s the stakes of the election itself, with Hillary Clinton at last month"s debate conjuring images of an angry Donald Trump with his finger on the nuclear codes, while Trump warned "we"re not going to have a country" if things don"t change."
“Meanwhile, the electorate is commensurately terrified of its potential leaders. According to a September Associated Press poll, 56 percent of Americans said they"d be afraid if Trump won the election, while 43 percent said they"d be afraid if Clinton won – with 18 percent of respondents saying they"re afraid of either candidate winning.”
The Paradox
“But just how unsafe is America today?
“According to Lewis & Clark College president Barry Glassner, one of the country"s leading sociologists and author of The Culture of Fear, "Most Americans are living in the safest place at the safest time in human history."
“Around the globe, household wealth, longevity and education are on the rise, while violent crime and extreme poverty are down. In the U.S., life expectancy is higher than ever, our air is the cleanest it"s been in a decade, and despite a slight uptick last year, violent crime has been trending down since 1991. As reported in The Atlantic, 2015 was "the best year in history for the average human being."
“So how is it possible to be living in the safest time in human history, yet at the exact same time to be so scared?
“Because, according to Glassner, "we are living in the most fearmongering time in human history. And the main reason for this is that there"s a lot of power and money available to individuals and organizations who can perpetuate these fears [emphases mine – pk]."
What It Pays To Understand
“For mass media, insurance companies, Big Pharma, advocacy groups, lawyers, politicians and so many more, your fear is worth billions. And fortunately for them, your fear is also very easy to manipulate. We"re wired to respond to it above everything else.”
“"The more we learn about the brain, the more we learn it"s not something that"s supposed to make you happy all the time," says Andrew Huberman, a Stanford neurobiology professor who runs a lab studying fear. "It"s mostly a stress-reactive machine. Its primary job is to keep us alive, which is why it"s so easy to flip people into fear all the time."
“The author Daniel Goleman has coined the term "amygdala hijacking" to describe what inflammatory rhetoric and imagery are designed to do: trigger the emotional brain before the logical brain has a chance to stop it. This is what both the right and the left believe their opponent"s media are doing to people."
So in order to resist being manipulated by those who spread fear for personal, political and corporate gain, it"s necessary to understand it. And the first thing to understand is that although the emotion may look like fear, sound like fear and smell like fear, neuroscientists argue that it is actually something quite different.”
I’ve had the good fortune to meet and speak with Neil Strauss, and consider him one of the most articulate, thought provoking individuals I’ve ever met – especially when it comes to popular culture and current events.
Read the full article here.
Dr. Bunten is originally from Huntington Beach, CA. He attended high school in Tokyo, Japan, went to college at UC San Diego and then to medical school in the Midwest. He returned home to California for residency training in Family Medicine at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. His immediate family all reside in Huntington Beach.
Dr Fishbein has been in the practice of family medicine for over 35 years in Irvine. He received his undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University, medical degree from Chicago Medical School, and completed his family medicine residency at Memorial Hospital of Long Beach.
Dr. Kim is the Medical Director of Family Care Centers, Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at Hoag Hospital, and a recipient of the Physicians of Excellence award from the Orange County Medical Association. He is Board Certified in Family Medicine, and has been practicing in our community for over 20 years.
Dr. Memon is a board certified Family Medicine physician and recently completed her fellowship in Geriatrics at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center. She attended Saint George’s University, School of Medicine and completed her residency at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. Her interest in medicine started at an early age and has since evolved into a passionate career.
Dr. Gina Nguyen obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at UC Irvine where she graduated Suma Cum Laude. She went to USC Keck School of Medicine, and returned to UC Irvine for a Family Medicine Residency. Since 2005, she worked at Kaiser Permanente, VNCOC, and Family Care Center Urgent Care.
Dr. Williams is Board Certified in Family Medicine and Sports Medicine. He is a native to Orange County and returned home after completing his medical degree at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. After completing his residency in family practice he successfully completed a fellowship in sports medicine.
Dr. Hye Lee is a board-certified Family Practice Physician, affiliated with the American Osteopathic Association and the American College of Osteopathic Family Practice.She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at UC Riverside and earned her medical degree from Des Moines University Osteopathic Medical Center. Afterward, she did her internship at Downey Regional Medical Center in California and has been a primary care physician since 2005.
Dr. Coyne is a board certified family practice physician and a California native. He completed his undergraduate degree at UCLA before earning his medical degree at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Dr Coyne spent 6 years in the US Air Force at Andrews and Luke Air Force bases, eventually separating as a Major. He enjoys working with patients of all ages.”
Dr. Jay Friehling is a Family Practice physician who has worked in Orange County since 1981. Born in Florida, he received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and then earned a Medical Degree at the New York Medical College.” His healthcare interests include Diabetes, Geriatric Care, and Hospice Care.
Dr. Jennifer Shoquist is board certified in Family Medicine. Her special interest is woman’s health and her practice accepts patients from 6 years old to seniors. Dr. Shoquist received her M.D. degree at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston in Houston, Texas, and did her residency with Memorial Family Practice at memorial Southwest Hospital in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Tom is a board certified family medicine physician and native Californian. He received his bachelors of science with great distinction in biochemistry and honors in chemistry. Dr. Tom was awarded a Regents Scholarship to attend medical school at UC Irvine.
Dr. Yan attended Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her Family Practice residency at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, California. She joined Family Care Center in 2001. She chose Family Practice because she enjoys working with a wide variety of people and because it provides a unique opportunity for continuing care.
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