ABSTRACT
Mediated fear is changing civilizations. Significant forces involve a combination of technological and social changes that shape and are shaped by the context that rockets them forward. The politics of everyday life incorporate the discourse of fear and mass mediated performances of symbolic (and forceful) interventions from threats, including terrorism, crime, and environmental catastrophe. It all begs for risk management. I argue that fundamental media and information technology changes are responsible for the craziness that now defines American politics, our major institutions, and everyday life as it has been essentially organized since WWII. This change destroyed the fragile communications-audience relationship that had existed since WWII. New technologies smashed the window that has long presented information and constructed social reality for American audiences. These points are illustrated by recent efforts by the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (F.B.I.) sting operations, concocted to dramatize domestic terrorist threats.
