Here’s a cheerful in-house ad from the January 18, 1982 issue of Time Magazine:

MUGGINGS! RAPES! MURDERS! Does that scare you, Ms. Whiteperson? It should. The egghead intellectual elites might try to confuse you with their nonsense about historic patterns and trends and how the media overstates the threat of violent crime, but you know better.

It’s a dangerous world, full of vicious predators lurking in the darker places. They wouldn’t think twice about taking your property, virtue, or life in order to satisfy their primitive urges….LIKE THE SERIAL RAPIST HIDING IN YOUR BROOM CLOSET AT THIS VERY MOMENT!  LOOK OUT!

Ha, ha. Just kidding. For now. You did pee your pants a little, though, which is why you need to get a five-year paid subscription to our fine publication…because who else (besides the Republican Party) is going to pander to your irrational fears of The Other?

Recommended listening:  Bauhaus – In Fear of Fear (from Mask, 1981)

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Fear of gothiness. Fear of dub-influenced postpunk with a hint of funk. Fear of a singer who wanted to be David Bowie and a guitarist who wanted to be that wannabe David Bowie. Fear being remembered only for “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.”

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