Fear Factory

"There are plenty of cases where the public's fear over exaggerated threats leads to government spending on projects and programs that are wasteful or of dubious merit," Finnigan writes in an e-mail.

Widespread fear may be good for business, but it's bad for the national psyche. And we are getting zapped from every direction. If the president is not reminding us that his administration is fighting terrorism abroad and "doing everything we can to disrupt folks that might be here in America trying to hurt you," then he is warning us that avian flu "may be the first pandemic of the 21st century." Actually, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded that trophy to SARS. Remember when we were scared of SARS?

Members of Congress are familiar with fear. Jo Ann Emerson, a Republican congresswoman from Missouri, told an appropriations subcommittee that one "huge problem that worries me" is "a possible earthquake where I live in the New Madrid Fault in Missouri and the fact that I suspect there isn't a plan in place to deal with the aftermath of that."

John Carter, a Republican from Texas, opined about the danger posed by illegal immigrants from Mexico. "It's frightening," he told his colleagues.

Homeland Security is in the business of preparedness in this fright-fraught culture. On its Ready America Web site ( http://www.ready.gov ), the department stresses preparedness by reminding us: "Don't Be Afraid, Be Ready." Brian Doyle, deputy press secretary of Homeland Security, says that since it was formed in 2002, his agency has done "a million different things" to make the United States safer. On Sept. 11, 2001, there were some 33 air marshals in the skies, mostly flying international routes. Today, according to DHS, there are thousands on flights everywhere. Hundreds of airline pilots have been trained to use guns. Cockpit doors have been secured on 6,000 aircraft. Every single piece of checked baggage is screened.

A robust "student and exchange information system," Doyle says, "has been tracking where every foreign student is."

Corporations have jumped on the fraidy-cat bandwagon. In promotional material, Lockheed Martin warns us that a new generation of fighter jets is being developed by our enemies, putting "the United States' ability to gain and maintain air superiority, much less air dominance, at increasing risk." Showtime is producing a your-neighbor-may-be-a-terrorist series called "Sleeper Cell."

And the media buy into the hype and hyperbole. Night after night you see the hysteria on TV news and talk shows. We have become a nation that cries: Wolf Blitzer!

The government also uses scaredy-pants tactics with young folks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency Web site for kids, for instance, features a hermit crab mascot named Herman, who, when faced with flood or fire, scurries like a scared crab to find a new shell to hide in. Couldn't the mascot be a wise, muscular Saint Bernard that helps people in disasters?

"Or a bald eagle?" suggests Marc Siegel, "that soars above it all?"

On this recent day, only crows are seen in the overcast sky above Ridgely, the little town that fear remembered. At the town park, William Wilkins, 62, a retired surveyor, takes his daily constitutional. Like many Americans, he thinks fighting evil is a noble pursuit, but he's not sure why the government is worried about terrorism in Ridgely. "The cameras can't hurt," he admits. "But I'm surprised they didn't put them out here."

He points to the park. "The kids come out here. Especially those ones on the skateboards. They throw trash around."

Chief Evans says he does plan to place a camera at the town park to watch the skateboarders. He will also install one near the water tower and another at the nearby waste water treatment plant, in case any terrorists might try to tamper with the supply.

"That's a secured facility," he says. "It's called 'target hardening.' "

He welcomes all the cameras because they help him keep an eye on things and, he says, "because Homeland Security paid for them."