Why do we panic?

Panic, as a state of emotion, is one that is at its most valuable when it is shared. A person who is panicking needs to express his anxiety, his hysteria. 

Public hysteria is what follows shock at the onset of a massive, spectacular disaster like what was just witnessed in Japan. First an enormous earthquake. Then a tsunami watched live on TV around the world as it spread its lethal waters for miles inland. Then a weakened nuclear reactor plant fails and explodes. It’s fucking horrific. And I haven’t even mentioned the tens of thousands of people who’ve died and even more injured as a result. 

Hysteria is actually quite a derogatory word, and one that has fallen out of public media parlance in recent years because of its connotations with sexism. Yeah, that’s right. Sexism. Hysteria was originally the word used to describe the psychological situation of a woman when “her uterus was out of place”. We’re talking about the ‘science’ of hundreds of years ago. So, let’s re-cap: a woman’s uterus starts wandering around her body; clearly that’s why she’s mad. And by ‘mad’, it might mean she’s just being a bit inconvenient for someone. So I’m going to use this word with caution.

But in some ways, the use of the word ‘hysteria’ is somewhat apt here. It’s a kind of raw, emotional panic that seems unstoppable. But it’s also often “caused” by a load of nonsense if you look at the situation rationally. Hysteric panic is self-perpetuating because people like to share their panic. Panic is a dish best shared between friends. Even better, though, when it’s shared between relative strangers. 

Panic lives in the same emotional register as ecstasy or glee. Especially when and because it’s experienced with others. There’s a fantastic book by Barbara Ehrenreich called Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy. In it, she discusses the need for public out-pouring of emotion. Mardi Gras, Carnival, parades, street dances, barn dances, you name it… people love coming together for no particular reason beyond the ability to share in an emotional experience with one another. Usually, and thankfully, this seems to happen around positive emotions. But we live in such emotionally addled societies these days… all work and no play (and our play often happening in isolation)… and we take ourselves so damn seriously! Perhaps what we need more than anything is to share an emotion. It doesn’t even matter which one it is. 

Panic lives in the same emotional space with ecstasy and glee because it’s something we almost physiologically feel the need to share with others. Especially with strangers. Panic unites people. It gives them a reason to connect… more simply, a reason (an excuse?) just to talk. 

So, back to Japan. A lot of people are panicking. But really, the news media are manufacturing this panic. They know it will get people talking. And what gets people clicking links, buying shit and turning to God? Yep. That’s right. Word of mouth. 

Most of what is being said and written in the news is highly sensationalist and inaccurate at the best of times. We should know better, but we don’t. We should do our research. We should listen to the scientists, not the journalists. So many shoulds… but we too-strongly crave the opportunity to connect with others to think rationally about how or why we’re doing it. 

This is not to discount the very real and horrific tragedy of what’s going on in Japan. It’s awful. But let’s at least think about why we’re panicking before we run for the hills.