Looking for the Enemy Within: Society and Paranoia Ihsan Alkhatib, Esq and Satsuki Ina, PhD

 
A joint session exploring dynamics of fear-based public paranoia and generalized hyper-vigilance arising from perceived "outside" threat, such as war and terrorism, that can lead to marginalizing and oppressing targeted groups within a society. Included is the role of overt and covert manipulation of fear to galvanize a society. Although these dynamics are universal, the US example will be explored. Presenters represent the Japanese-American internment experience during WW II, and also the current experience of the Arab/Muslim-American community specifically (and non-Western-looking ethnic-American communities in general), that has similarities with early stages of the WW II dynamics in the US.