Blogpost 2: The Politics of Phobia

I wonder if there are many more fields that are associated with phobia. I mean, its a wide topic. Fear of a certain thing is normal. It may serve as our weakness or it may be a catalyst for us to be stronger. Phobia on the other hand exceeds the normal span of time that a person get scared/terrified. It is like abnormal fear. I, for one, has a phobia. I get really nervous just by thinking of speaking in front of a public. I think I am not confident enough that's why I have that. And as I am searching random things about phobia in the internet fear of public speaking is one of the most prominent kind of phobia. 

I am really curious on why people get really scared of something that it affects their lives. So I've done my research. Phobia is an interesting topic to explore and as expected there is so much information that I can get in a single search. Thousands of different articles flashed before my eyes, but there is this one article that caught my eye. It's an article I found on Research in English at Liverpool John Moores University by David Tyrer entitled, "The Politics of Phobia." The article discusses the phenomenon of phobias from different aspects such as: cultural, sociological, and historical. He starts talking about the history of phobias. He said that the term “phobia” became famous during the 19^th century because it is intrinsically connected to many historical events. For instance, the idea of claustrophobia (fear of being trapped in a small place/room) and agoraphobia (fear of being in a public places) originated during the Franco-Prussian War; claustrophobia during the siege of Paris, and agoraphobia subsequent to the consolation of the city. In addition, he stated that phobias develop through something that even us cannot decipher. For example, a sense of uneasiness around something, means the phobia itself becomes shorthand for that displaced fear. Therefore, phobia itself is a very intriguing topic it lacks a definite definition.

"As the notion of the phobia became more popular – and politicized – over time they also became more contested and nebulous with new and arbitrary phobias being regularly invented by the media." This statement is said by David Tyrer.

I agree with the statement said by David Tyrer. Some of the phobias are ridiculous and merely based on their own opinion and views in life. Phobia is now more challenging and vague as they blend in in imperious phobias in today's society. People should be more considerate and they should think first before acting

As I wander through the field of politics and its association with phobia, I found another article that is quite related to the first one. This second article can be found in Spiked which is entitled, "Phobias" by Frank Furedi. He stated that there is a corrupted in the progression to classify the political or cultural views as "phobias" and it must be treated. He states that nowadays, phobia is becoming a very controversial topic as a boundless force that can allegedly change people into a dogmatist and influence them to commit acts of verbal and physical assailment. Many association in the society now are affected by the casualties of other people's phobias, and they argue that they have been a victim of a "phobic" perspective. The society has recently constructed conditions like Homophobia (abhorrence towards a homosexual person and homosexuality) and Islamophobia (hatred towards Muslim).

"Over the past two decades, the use of the word phobia to denote fear or angst about other people has become part of everyday speech," as stated by Frank Furedi.

I think the statement above is true. You can just simply attach the -phobia/-phobic (use it as a suffix) to any word and presto! You'll from a brand new word. There are over 500 different phobias that ranges from A-Z. But there are still many new words that are recently created such as words with "phobia" in it. These words are used for prejudice such as biphobia (abhorrence towards bisexuality), and xenophobia (fear of strangers). The words ending with -phobia have antonyms with the suffix -phile/-phil. An example of it is and Germanophobe (one who fears Germany, people and its culture) which has an antonym Germanophile (a person who's fond of German culture).

An English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, believes that human nature is "tainted". Humans will act according to their corrupted nature. I think this view of human nature can be applied to those people who are degrading other human being by discriminating them by using phobia as a term for prejudice. In contrast to Mr. Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, an English philosopher and a physician, believe that people are inherently "good" in nature. He believes that human nature is characterized by reason and tolerance. I think all people should live with this philosophy because it's positive and good. I also believe that people are reasonable enough to do what's right. So, people who can think only of themselves should change and those who think of hurting other people should get a life and make it productive.

Upon reading the two articles, I came into a realization that history is related with phobia. Aside from history, phenomenon of phobias can also be studied form sociological and cultural perspective. I've learned that the words with "phobia" have negative connotations. People use them to discriminate others. I think its not good so people should stop using them. The politics of phobia as a whole is so entertaining and I get to enjoy reading it.