Credibility Crunch Engendered by Hope-Mongering

COMMENTARY ARCHIVES, 30 Sep 2008

Anthony Judge

"Credit Crunch" Focus as Symptom of a Dangerous Mindset

The drama of the financial crisis and "credit crunch" — sufficient cause for grave concern — is presented here as exemplifying underlying cognitive patterns that should be cause for even greater concern.

Much is made of doom-mongering — of which the legendary Greek Casandra is confusingly proposed as an archetype, embodied in such terms as Casandra Syndrome. This label is applied in situations in which valid warnings or concerns are dismissed or disbelieved. Such situations are readily, and even deliberately, confused with situations in which articulating warnings is used to attract attention and to manipulate others to the advantage of the doom-monger. This is epitomized by the tale of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. It has notably been used to justify budgets for large public projects, ranging from defence to physics experiments.

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