Comments on Oct. 1 Class Perception and Reality

We looked at a few different Sociological Perspectives, one in particular was Phenomenology. In our lecture we learned that a guy by the name of Alfred Schutz mixed philosophy and sociology to get phenomenology. Basically the idea is, what you see is what you get or what you THINK is real is REAL to you in your mind's creation of the world. This idea can actually explain a lot of differences between societies separated by national boundaries for example the USA and Canada.

An image that was presented to the class shows two bubbles divided by a line, above the line is the public's perception/ outrage and below the line is the reality of the situation. If you think about the the concept of terrorism. Where has it inflated the most? Canadians and Americans have taken on very different perceptions of national security since 9/11. The general public in the US was put on a fear chart. People were kept informed as to what the degree of fear and national security was at by a scale yellow-red on TV. Canadians on the other hand let the incident phase out. It was scary and people were outraged in the beginning. I remember being in junior high, in a specific desk, in my math class, staring blankly at the radio that we all listened to in silence and disbelief. We have had a fairly safe and uneventful past 8 years where there has been no attacks on our country and so we have not had the public focus on their fear of terrorism in the same manner.

I am aware that I am generalizing by saying "Canadians" and "Americans", obviously not all people share the same views. But what I am getting at is how the USA has put a lot of focus and energy into national security which has escalated fear of terrorism well over what the actual likelihood or reality of a similar attack would be. Canada on the other hand, did not put the same kind of national focus on terrorism and so our perception of terrorism and escalation is much less in comparison with the USA.