Fear of crime

The word angst derives from the German meaning fear, but signifying something a lot more than simple fear.  It is one of those words which English has commandeered from another language – this particular hijacking occurring for the first time in the 1920s – because English had no one word of its own to describe the experience. Angst is not simply fear or anxiety. It is typically a feeling of deep and pervasive anxiety, even dread, which is unfocused and concerns the human condition or the state of things in general.

Who can doubt that angst-ridden describes Guyana today? A generalized feeling of deep anxiety, not to say dread, pervades society. At the present time, the feeling is sharply concentrated in the growing fear of crime. Constant, barefaced, brutal crimes have begun to traumatize those who might be classified as middle class – or, to be more precise, those who live in reasonably good homes and possess cars. The unending, seemingly unstoppable series of over-publicised, completely callous crimes is leading to continual fear for one’s personal safety and the safety of family and friends. Appalled, feeling helpless, we wait to hear news of the next attack while hoping with hardly any hope for a successful official response.

I specify the middle class but the angst, of course, spreads wider and deeper, is more complicated and goes well beyond fear of crime. Another column will be necessary to define these deeper aspects of angst in society. For now I confine the subject to the dread of criminal activity.