Jumping At Shadows: The Triumph of Fear and the End of the American Dream

FEATURING SASHA ABRAMSKY – Americans place terrorist attacks high on their list of fears yet very few people actually die in such attacks in this country. They legitimately fear gun violence yet purchase more guns every time there is a mass shooting. Many support deportation of immigrants over fear of violence yet immigrants commit fewer crimes per capita than native born Americans.

Parents are terrified of their children being kidnapped yet actual child abduction rates are extremely low. Fears of vaccine dangers persist despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. And, there is an active movement of doomsday preppers, very few of whom support action on climate change.

Some might argue that the irrational fears plaguing this nation are exactly what gave rise to the presidency of Donald Trump.

Sasha Abramsky, author, freelance journalist, lecturer at the University of California and a senior fellow at Demos. He has written for The Nation, Atlantic Monthly, New York Magazine, American Prospect, Salon and many more. He has written several books including The American Way of Poverty, Inside Obama’s Brain, and more. His newest book is ,Jumping At Shadows: The Triumph of Fear and the End of the American Dream’.