Once we locate an object of our fear, we feel empowered

 

Just as we long for a diagnosis when we are sick, so we long for a way to name and locate our chaotic fears. Once we have a diagnosis, we know how to respond to our illness. We feel that we can do something. Likewise, once we locate an object of our fear, we feel empowered. We can now take tangible steps to make ourselves more safe. Insecurity is no longer the sad reality of a fallen and vulnerable world; it is the result of “those” people who pose a tangible and definable threat to “us” and our way of life. Indeed, we exist as “us” precisely because we oppose what “they” are and what “they” do. The cozy feeling of community coexists with an anxious pugnacity that arises, in most communities, as an inevitable byproduct of a shared identity.

Scott Bader-Saye, Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear (p. 105)