I love reading the dictionary and learning new words. Now I’m on to acronyms that are popping up with the expansion of social media, quick references like BFF for “best friends forever” or LOL for “laughing out loud.”
The other day I was reading Ebony magazine, a long standing magazine that doesn’t necessarily appeal to a younger audience. Ebony recently started running a side-bar entitled “Word of the Month.” The word in the August issue is FUD mongering. This is the explanation:
“FUD is an acronym for fear, uncertainty, and doubt; FUD mongerers are those who create FUD, e.g., overzealous politicians and some religious fanatics. “
Politicians and religious fanatics are not the only people practicing FUD. There are FUD makers all around us. The question is as a “community of women” are we FUD makers? An even bigger question still: are we FUD followers?
Fear, uncertainty and doubt have no place in a disciple’s daily life. We stand sure in the redeeming and reconciling love of God through Christ Jesus. FUD’s triple threat is time consuming and unproductive. It takes a lot of energy to keep FUD going once it has been introduced. It stirs lots of questions for me, now that it has a name. I wonder how it survives without factual data. Why is it so easy for people to take up with such negative thinking and activities?
Thanks to Ebony’s “Word of the Month” I’ve been given another opportunity to look at my actions and behavior in light of my daily discipleship and the call to act boldly.
What’s your FUD reading today?
Valora Starr is the director for discipleship for Women of the ELCA.
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