With war in Iraq looming, the media is resorting to old tricks to spread a culture of fear. As Steve Leibman grimly repeats his government-endorsed message on a daily basis I ponder what has really changed?

Examples of terrorist acts existed long before September 11 and Bali. Have we forgotten about the frequent Palestinian and IRA acts of terror in the 1970?s perpetrated in public places such as airports and inside pubs? Why the sudden shift of attitude now?

I want to let you in on a little secret:

Fear as a function of instinct for survival is normal. Hysteria employed as an agent of fear is not normal.

As a backpacker, I have been to most of the world hotspots for terrorism, London, Belfast, Israel, Egypt and Turkey just to name a few. Twelve months ago I visited Hanoi for the first time.

When I first began to consider travelling to Egypt in 1996 from my London base, my instinct for survival was already in a heightened state. Given this was my first time overseas I was acutely aware of the extra security present in London over the Christmas period. Watching for unaccompanied bags masquerading as bombs whilst riding London?s ?tube? made for some initially anxious train trips.

And do you think I could find a bin to deposit my Mars Bar wrapper into?

Once in London, like any conscientious traveller I sought advice from the Australian Consulate. To my surprise I found the Australian Government had issued exactly the same travel warning for both Egypt and the UK. My fears began to dissolve.

The media would have us believe that the government is solely accountable for our travel safety. Whilst it provides helpful information, responsibility always rests with the individual.

I also made it my goal to personally seek out as many opinions as possible from experienced travellers. The Internet is also a great resource. One of my favourite message boards is the ever-reliable Thorn Tree on www.lonelyplanet.com.au. It can provide information in a real time capacity the government can only dream of.

The first night in Egypt was a nervous one. Witnessing the sight of a herd of camels ushered through a busy mid-town Cairo intersection whilst munching on KFC is something I?ll never forget.Yet it was a midnight stroll along the banks of the river Nile that put my mind at ease forever.

Couples sat hand in hand on the riverbank courting. It was a sight I had witnessed on the banks of the Yarra River in Melbourne many times. Such displays are universal throughout the world. Suddenly I was overcome with a sense of humanity. First hand experience, rather than word of mouth, had advanced my education of a foreign culture in a way no book or movie ever could.

I felt better for it. There was nothing to be afraid of.

On Australia Day 1997 I found myself cycling a rented bike through the Valley of The Kings, near Luxhor, some 600 kilometres south of Cairo, famous for its many tombs that yielded treasures of untold historical wealth.

On November 17, 1997 AlGama'at alIslamiyya (IG) gunmen shot and killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians, wounding 26 others at the Hatshepsut Temple in the Valley of the Kings. (1)

The tourists were mostly German and no doubt as captivated as I was by the surroundings before the tragedy occurred.

From Egypt I travelled to Israel via Mt Sinai bypassing UN troops still on duty keeping the silent, uneasy peace between Egypt and Israel. Soon I found work as a volunteer on Kfar Giladi, a kibbutz in Northern Israel some two kilometres shy of the border crossing with Lebanon known as ?The Good Fence?.

For two months, from 4:30am to around 11am, 6 days a week I washed hotel laundry under the watchful eye of Anna, The Laundress.

The local town, Kiryat Shmona, was two kilometres to the south of the kibbutz. It had been subjected to many attacks from Hezbollah forces. Naturally, it was under threat of mortar and Katyusha rocket fire. Israeli helicopter gunship patrols were a common sight in my first week.

Many bomb shelters dotted the kibbutz. The most unnerving sight was that of a shelter placed directly beneath a children?s playground.

Anna had nothing but indifferent contempt for the intentions of her Hezbollah neighbours. She simply refused to use the bomb shelters. Nothing would interrupt her busy washing schedule.

?Who would want to bomb a laundry?? she would shrug.

Don Watson, author & former political speechwriter for former Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating, best sums up her attitude. Giving a speech at the 2002 Booroondara Writers Festival, Watson felt that Australian society was fast losing man?s ability to accept the paradox of fate.

The Israel I travelled through, lived in and experienced was far removed from that portrayed in the media which enjoys projecting a heightened state of danger for viewer consumption. Activity and images are magnified through the lens of a camera. Viewer focus cannot help but rest on the violence portrayed.

If sex sells, fear closes all deals.

The culture of fear cultivated in the western media has surrounded and shaped my life. I have sometimes paused to reflect and wonder just how I managed to conquer Egypt and Israel in my own special way in spite of it.

As a young impressionable teenager I finished my high school years in the early mid - eighties. At the time, the nuclear disarmament movement had grown with spectacular success. Palm Sunday took on a political guise as anti-nuclear protesters adopted the tradition of Easter, along with its theme of peace and reconciliation, to attract crowds to rally in protest against nuclear arms.

The nuclear disarmament movement had successfully fashioned its very own campaign of fear ably assisted by mainstream media. Against the backdrop of a nuclear arms race, the movement fed the public a steady diet of ?what if? scenarios.

In a Year 12 classroom in suburban Bulleen some 10 km?s east of Melbourne, my fertile imagination went to work on a regular basis trying to weigh up the chances of survival.

Peter Garrett agitated me constantly via Midnight Oil?s ?Red Sails in The Sunset? released in 1984. The cover art offered a stark and disturbing portrayal of a nuclear bomb ravaged Sydney Harbour. Although highly provocative and disturbing in my view, I can only applaud the Oils for acting upon their beliefs.

Witness the film ?13 Days?, an account of the Cuban Missile Crisis by director Roger Donaldson, starring Kevin Costner and Bruce Greenwood.

In many interviews Donaldson, born and bred in Ballarat, Victoria patiently explained that the film owed its existence and origins to his boyhood fears of nuclear war. Fears, albeit based on a grave possibility at the time, nurtured by politicians via the media.

Recently released is ?The Quiet American?, a film by Australian director Phillip Noyce. (see vibewire.net review)

Noyce, part of the Vietnam generation says, "Australians bought the domino theory hook, line and sinker?. He attributes his compulsory military service in high school, whilst ?learning to avoid the Viet booby trap?, to his youthful belief in the validity of the domino theory. Noyce recalls, ?I saw my neighbours go off to Vietnam and, like their American counterparts, come back disillusioned. In the end, we wondered why we had been so foolish." (2)

The Palm Sunday rallies also promised a catastrophe that never came. People got on with their lives.

Possibly the best essay on this theme of late belongs to Michael Moore in his film ?Bowling for Columbine? voted the greatest documentary of all time by the International Documentary Association and Co-winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival. (See vibewire.net review)

One assertion Moore presents is that people with vested interests breed fear via the media. Their objective being increased American consumer activity and demand for food, gas masks, guns leads to increased profits.

A previous position I held was as a Research and Media Development Manager for an online consumer information service. Increased traffic to, and through, our web site was an objective. I was often dismayed at the negative editorial policy used to attract consumer attention to our articles on retail banking. Negative headlines, I was assured, were the only way to attract consumer attention.

Do people like bad news and enjoy receiving it?

Unfortunately, there is evidence to back this theory.

The conclusion to this article will appear two weeks from publication date of Part I.

S.T. McIntyre is a writer from Melbourne, Australia. He can be contacted at: mcintyre_sean@lycos.com

This article originally appeared on Vibewire.
ENDNOTES:

(1) Air Force Association, 4 Decades of worldwide terrorism, http://www.afa.org/magazine/Feb2002/0202terror.html, February 2002, Accessed January 2003

(2) Bunbury, S., Noyce work if you can get it, http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/18/1042520819055.html, 19 January 2003, Accessed January 2003.