In The Denial of Death, Becker tried to explain how fear of one's own demise lies at the center of human endeavor. "Man's anxiety," Becker wrote, "results from the human paradox that man is an animal who is conscious of his animal limitation." Becker described how human beings defend themselves against this fundamental anxiety by constructing cultures that promise symbolic or literal immortality to those who live up to established standards. Among other things, we practice religions that promise immortality; produce children and works of art that we hope will outlive us; seek to submerge our own individuality in a larger, enduring community of race or nation; and look to heroic leaders not only to fend off death, but to endow us with the courage to defy it. We also react with hostility toward individuals and rival cultures that threaten to undermine the integrity of our own.I don't think the anxiety caused by knowledge of one's own mortality can explain everything, but I think Death must be one of the essential things in the human psyche that motivates us. And clearly in art and literature it is an obsession: from tragedy to war epic to horror story to funeral poem, it sits side by side with romantic love as art's great topic.
The problem with the "Worldview Defense" is that it doesn't explain the red state/blue state divide, nor does it explain why some people are motivated by fear and death, and others by more positive principles. Perhaps it is the difference between "deficiency needs" and "growth needs" as in Maslow's hierarchy. The fear of Death could just as easily be seen as anxiety about safety and security (Crime, jobs, etc.) and the unmet desire for stability and certainty. If there is a difference between how New York and West Virginia responds to 9/11, it is probably rooted in the social and economic anxieties each community is already facing. It may also be that some areas offer more choices and improve your ability to cope with these anxieties by providing greater social mobility and economic diversity.
It would be interesting to see how these sorts of job and safety concerns correlate with voting patterns.
