Fear, uncertainty, and doubt. AKA, “FUD.”
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (often shortened to FUD) is a propaganda tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics, polling and cults. FUD is generally a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or false information and a manifestation of the appeal to fear.
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt, Wikipedia
Discussed during a recent VBW episode (EPISODE 238: I AM NOT IVAN ILYICH…AM I?)
There’s also a fantastic reference to this essay, of a woman who survived an attack by an alligator. It’s short, and worth reading in its entirety.
Below, a couple of excerpts.
On the “glow” that lasts for a time after surviving a near-death.
The wonder of being alive after being held – quite literally in the jaws of death has never entirely left me. For the first year, the experience of existence as an unexpected blessing cast a golden glow over my life, despite the injuries and the pain. The glow has slowly faded, but some of that new gratitude for life endures, even if I remain unsure whom I should thank. The gift of gratitude came from the searing flash of near-death knowledge, a glimpse “from the outside” of the alien, incomprehensible world in which the narrative of self has ended.
And on becoming a “mere piece of meat.”
Before the encounter, it was as if I saw the whole universe as framed by my own narrative, as though the two were joined perfectly and seamlessly together. As my own narrative and the larger story were ripped apart, I glimpsed a shockingly indifferent world in which I had no more significance than any other edible being. The thought, ‘This can’t be happening to me, I’m a human being, I am more than just food!’ was one component of my terminal incredulity. It was a shocking reduction, from a complex human being to a mere piece of meat.
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Carrying the Gun 