Here be the Monster By Genoways – Critical Analysis

In his article “Here be the Monster”, Genoways focuses on fear and things that scare people, either in reality or through our imagination. According to Genoways, people have a fear of one thing or another. These fears started from monster stories where people imagined things that no one is sure of their existence or not. This was followed by fear of aliens, then the fear of war, and fear of technological advancement and invention of advance weapons and scientific technology. In most cases, these fears are imagined, and they end up attracting resistance to change as people do not know what to expect. In the recent past, the country has however been faced by situations that create reasonable fear that is likely to happen, especially with the growth of terrorism and other extremist groups. This creates the need to find better ways to address situations within us, so as to reduce the fear and possibility of the scary things happening. Genoways wants the government to consider finding better ways to address issues that are creating fears in modern society.

There are a number of things that need to be understood about this article. The article stresses that people always have something to be scared about, whether imagined or real. In most cases, people tend to imagine horrible things that can happen if they push beyond the horizon. This means any new change is likely to create fear. This fear is mostly propagated by media propaganda, written opinions, lack of enough knowledge of scientific ideas, and expression of people’s horrific imaginations. In such situations, there is nothing much one can do to address such fears unless the change comes to pass and people’s imaginations get nullified. However, there are some fears which are genuine and which raise a point of concern. This according to the article, this happens when the fear is likely to be caused not by aliens or imagined sea monsters, but by those living in our midst. This makes people’s fear justified and the need for a solution quite necessary. The point is, the government need to focus on getting a better solution that eliminates the threat created by people living in our midst, especially terrorist and other extremist groups.

Genoways made a number of assumptions while writing this article. One of the assumptions is that people always experience fear of the unknown, and to survive they normally “brave themselves for the worse”. This is assumption contradicts the notion that most of the imagined fears are unreasonable and may always remain within us. It is hard to brave against an imagined fear unless one focuses on not thinking about it. The other assumption is that other than accepting what comes with the threat, there is little that can be done to fight for some threats especially those that are imagined or generated through propaganda. For instance, if aliens were to be real, people or governments are not prepared to handle the situation. Although the fear has been there, no one takes it seriously as there is no proof of its existence. This is despite the propaganda about the same topic causing mass hysteria among people in the country. The other assumption is that there is a way to conclusively handle threats caused by those in our midst to completely eliminate the fear. The paper assumes that just because the threat is within the population, it is easy to be solved or resolved. Terrorism is a complex situation that is hard to address and so are other war-related threats. Handling such matters may require time and not without a number of falling victims of the struggle.

My position is that fears will always be there in our life, whether real or imagined. Although we should try to avoid being distracted by imagined and non-existence fears, we should always be ready to handle genuine causes of fears that are likely to occur abruptly. The government has a duty of protecting its citizens from any external threats that can create fear. However, it is important to understand that it is considerably had to address some of these threats completely and instantly. Sometimes, even the government can only work to minimize the fear and not to solve it completely. This means, people are likely to live with these fears forever and if one is unlucky, he or she may fall victim to the threats that create the fear. This stand is based on the article’s explanation of imaginary and real fear.

While the two create the same impact on individual emotions, fear as a result of imagination can be avoided by keeping the mind busy and opting not to listen to propaganda. It can also be controlled by reducing the broadcasting of fake and uncertified news. On the other hand, real fear caused by events that can take place is hard to eliminate fully. Although the government can manage to minimize it, the complexity surrounding the cause of fear makes it only possible to minimize it. Complete elimination of this fear may be an idea and unachievable. Thus people may have to learn to live in fear forever or opt not to think about it to have a more peaceful life.

Genoways acknowledge that fear has always been there and will always be there as people tend to find something to be scared of in every new arising situation or change in life. This aligns with my stand that fears will always be there in life, whether real or imaginary. The author also acknowledges the existence of a real threat of terrorism causing fear which is not simple. According to the author, the fear does not only need physical courage but moral courage too. The author acknowledges that the government ought to address existing threats that cause fear. However, in my stand citizens should not have high expectations that go beyond government ability. While the citizens and the government can embrace moral courage, there is no guarantee that terrorists will do the same. This makes the issue even more complex, making it hard to guarantee the end of this threat or related fears. The only difference between my stand and that of the author is that one can decide to eliminate fears in their mind and life by not thinking about them, and by avoiding information that can propagate fear. Though attainable, it can be relatively hard in the current world of information.

In conclusion, the world is full of scary things which are either created in our mind due to lack of enough information or due to our imagination, or which are real. The magnitude of fear depends highly on individual imagination and gathered information regarding the unknown monsters. It is thus hard to completely eliminate fear among people. We have to accept that fear is part of our life and we can only brave ourselves to live with them. However, we can minimize real threats to reduce the fear that is caused by things living in our midst. We can also occupy our minds with more meaningful things to reduce scary imagination and picking fake news that is likely to build our fear.

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