woocommerce-shipping-per-product domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/staging.esse.ca/htdocs/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131complianz-gdpr domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/staging.esse.ca/htdocs/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131Never until now has fear been such an intriguing subject of research. A natural reaction that was once triggered by the presence of a stranger or when facing danger, fear has considerably changed through \u00adcivilization. Brand new fears have surfaced. Existential angst and modern phobias, fear of the Other and of difference, psychoses and paranoia\u2014all are more or less grounded anxieties and terrors that are \u00adnevertheless more \u00addevastating than the ancient defence reflex. Today fear has become a tool for manipulation and propaganda, and an excellent means of social control. By exploiting social fears such as xenophobia and the fear of \u00adterrorism, those in power have at their disposal all the \u00adnecessary \u00adpretexts to use defensive or offensive strategies that often serve \u00adeconomic \u00adrather than common interests. In the name of public \u00adsecurity, \u00adconsiderable amounts of money are invested in armament and the deployment of \u201cpreventive\u201d forces. Incidentally, the Canadian Forces have developed this year an important and costly recruiting \u00adcampaign. In ads on T.V. and the web, one can read, \u201cFight fear. Fight with the Canadian Forces.\u201d Somewhat of a media stunt, the slogan is efficient and can adapt to any situation. No need to question the relevance and foundation of an armed conflict; the \u201cenemy\u201d that needs to be \u00addefeated\u2014fear\u2014is inside each and every one of us. Who would dispute its existence? Who would question the army\u2019s participation in any conflict when fear is the new enemy we all hope to defeat?\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\nFortunately, other individuals, less prone to use arms or engage in combat, have found fabulous antidotes to fear. For example, there is art and, through it, poetry and humour. It is noticeable in Nedko Solakov\u2019s work Fear<\/em>, presented this year at the Documenta in Kassel. This series of 99 drawings illustrates various fears felt or observed by the artist, \u00adaccompanied by captions that are both funny and bitingly cynical and lucid. This caustic humour is also present in the anagram Run from Fear, Fun from Rear<\/em>, a neon sign by Bruce Nauman, recently on view at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019art contemporain de Montr\u00e9al. Although the meaning of the work is open-ended, I find that suggesting pleasure rather than flight in overcoming fear is a far more interesting solution, and I would irreverently propose that the Armed Forces adopt it as their new motto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Writers were quite stimulated by the theme of fear, and so we have decided to make it the subject of two consecutive issues. This first issue examines the phenomenon of conspiracy theories, the fear of the Other\u2014or the fear of not being recognized by the Other\u2014and offers \u00adanalyses of works, actions and places dealing with fear and terror. Moreover, with this 61st issue of esse we are introducing our new \u00adbilingual format. After \u00adtwenty-three years, our publication having increased international presence, we felt we should accommodate English-speaking readers. Welcome! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Translated from the French by Colette Tougas]<\/p>\n