The Politics of Fear | Mark Tumeo | TEDxJacksonville

Fear has been one of the strongest motivators in political discourse for almost the entire history of mankind and government. One of the most important aspects of fear as a political motivator is that it is not spoken about in terms of why the fear exists. Rather, political opponents either exaggerate or discount the causes of the fear driving the discussion, which only serves to increase the anger generated by fear. In such an environment, governance becomes difficult if not impossible, and the stage is set for violence, upheaval and revolution. Through his TEDxJacksonville talk, Dr. Mark Tumeo hopes to start a civil discourse about the fears our society faces, explore how that fear is being used to direct political consequences, and discuss how we might move beyond the politics of fear in the development of sound public policies.



Dr. Mark A. Tumeo is the Dean of the College of Computing, Engineering and Construction and a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of North Florida. He holds a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of California Davis, a J.D. from Cleveland State University, and B.S. degrees in civil engineering and biology from the University of Notre Dame. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the States of Florida and Alaska. He is also a member of the Ohio Bar. Dr. Tumeo came to UNF in 2011 from Cleveland State University and was previously a faculty member at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Dr. Tumeo has more than 30 years of experience in environmental consulting and research and has extensive experience and publications in environmental risk assessment, policy and regulation. In 2005, he was elected to the Cleveland Heights City Council, and he was re-elected to a second term in 2009.


This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx