Do you think some fears are created by the society?

Duh…what else is new lol….....But seriously, yes. This is already widely known. It is the reason why people hate homosexuals, are afraid to be secular, why men are afraid to cry etc.

They are not created by a vacuum. You can fear many things, but most people – as is depicted in many thriller and horror shows – fear other people more than anything else.

Yes. a good example is when the people(society) elected Obama as their president.

@john65pennington Lol! I don’t agree but that was funny :)

Yes. First the next ice age and now global warming.

I think society has created a lot of fear, simply by the things that happen within it. However, I find the worse fears are my own, I have created in myself.

Fox Noise does a pretty good job of it.

Fear is a part of social control.

Most fears beyond the normal survival type fears (like will I get my throat cut if I visit the watering hole in this part of town?” are fear tactics.

If you think about it most if not all of societies rules have some threat implied if you don’t comply and what good is a threat if people don’t fear it?

At a glance, I’d have to say most of our fears are created by society then promptly blown dramatically out of proportion. After that, it comes down to the individual absorbing those fears and regurgitating them back to society often with little actual evidence to support them. Those tales are absorbed by society and so the cycle continues. Fears can be helpful, sadly, too many of us fail to rationally assess and react to the fears we absorb, with extreme instances becoming phobias.

Brown recluse spider bites in California are a good example.

Most of the “fears” you see reported on the Evening News are fostered by the people who want to “save” you from them. That is, your political leaders.

Absolutely. Fear is a tool and is spread so easily my the mass media these days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_fear

”We have nothing to fear but fear itself!”

FDR’s First Inaugural Address

It has more to do with the lack of skepticism and the inability to engage in basic critical thinking when being faced with mass media. It’s not easy to determine which potential dangers we should take seriously. Many fears are indeed quite irrational.

Evolution deniers fear that human beings are no longer considered special. Climate change deniers fear we might lose the accomplishments of human civilization. The anti-vaccine movement fears autism. And so forth. But fear can be a good thing when it’s justified. Strong earthquakes can cause tsunamis. We should have warning systems. The ability of ecosystems to adapt to climate change in time is severely limited. We should take action and apply the precautionary principle. An influenza pandemic can cause great harm. We need to develop countermeasures. And so forth.