Politics are always a controversial topic no matter what actual opinion is being expressed. Now, this isn't just something that we are dealing with in present time, but it has been dealt with for centuries. With that in mind, Samuel Taylor Coleridge offers his own political opinion with a blend of heavy emotions and rational thoughts in the form of his text “Fears in Solitude”. Even though this text was written in 1798, Coleridge responds perfectly with problems that are common of our government event today.
“Fears in Solitude” was written as Coleridge’s reaction to the idea that France, who just recently had a revolution, would soon be invading Britain. Coleridge doesn’t really believe Britain will invade, but he does; however, think that if they did, it is exactly what Britain deserves. Coleridge notes that the media and the citizens at large are all attempting to scare everyone into believe that calamity is right around the corner for the sake of either selling papers or some other personal agenda. Instead of focusing on a possible outside threat (that isn’t all that likely to happen) Coleridge wants the citizens of Britain to focus on themselves and their country, then attempt to rectify what they can and make things better better from the inside, not by blaming their problems on other people.
Does this sound a little familiar? Today it seems like all we hear about is how illegal immigrants or refugees will be the end of our nation and how we have to quell the influence that outsiders are having. We have a leader who constantly blames the problems of America on the failures of other countries and other people. But, as Coleridge pointed out over 100 years ago, that is not the way to make positive changes.
I expound upon all of that to say, that America does need to make changes. We do have problems that need addressing; but, we should never inflate these problems as something bigger than what they actually are. If we keep making mountains out of molehills then we’ll never be able to pinpoint what exactly our real problems are. Instead we’ll constantly be in a state of fear and worry about what is to come next and that’s no way to live.
It falls on all of us as citizens to correct each other when we take things too far and spread false narratives out of a sense of fear. It falls on us to demand that news media, in any form it takes, has to be relaevant and accurate instead of chasing headlines. We should go through life with a healthy level of concern for our problems and those of our country, but not fear. Fear defeats reasons and forbids us from being rational.
