Aqua Don'ts and The Culture of Fear®

When I'm not writing amazing blog posts, I do my World History homework! This weekend's assignment was to connect a recent news story to American Culture, and I couldn't help but to inject a little bit of feminism into my analysis of the Aqua Dots scandal:

This article introduces an interesting dynamic into American Culture, the growing, impending, and sometimes terrifying Culture of Fear®. To put it simply, the American Culture of Fear® is the unique lifestyle of preventing bad experiences by avoiding good ones. This seems relatively modern, but it probably dates back to America’s Puritanical Christian founders who praised modesty and chastity while shunning hedonism. The American Culture of Fear® is why we don’t go out late at night, why we avoid hearty foods, why the terror alert level is broadcasted regularly in O’Hare airport, and why we built bomb shelters in the 60s. The American Culture of Fear® is also largely responsibly for the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Aqua Dots scandal (or as I like to call it, Aquagate).


We may call gamma hydroxy butyrate (GHB) the “date rape drug,” and, yes, rapists have used it, but not as much as you might think. Very few rapes involve drugging or any grand display of masculinity (more women will be struck by lighting then kidnapped from a mall parking lot), and the main users of GHB use it recreationally, like marijuana or ecstasy. However, exploiting the few GHB rapes provides the perfect story, that of the sneaky, intelligent, conniving man and the vulnerable, unknowing woman. The better can much better propagate American patriarchal values with this myth. It is also important to point out that the Aqua Dots do not actually have any GHB in them—they merely metabolize into the chemical when ingested.

Another important statistic to note when reviewing Aquagate is the ages of the children sickened. The article stated that the ill American child was two years old. A child of two years should not be playing with a toy that requires a high amount of gross motor skills and a more developed intellect. While it is certainly unfair to blame this accident on the parents of the child, American Culture of Fear® believes with confidence that a parent, as their child’s primary fear-injector, can commit no evils.

This article also exploits a recognizable symbol—toys. If China were accidentally shipping over poison teapots, I doubt anyone would bat an eyelash. But toys are a different matter, as they represent the untarnished innocence of children, the same innocence that the aforementioned Puritans were so gung-ho about in the Mayflower days.

When harmful chemicals are found in toys, it's a problem, but it's not the end-all end-all of the world, like The American Culture of Overreacting® would like you to believe.