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This is a short summary illustrated video by a person on the internet and does a pretty good job of interpreting the theory of "gift of fear" by Gavin De Becker. As colleagues in the battle to de-mythologize the fear phenomenon and culture of fear, Gavin and I have known each other for 25 years through correspondence on emails, and he has written a Foreword for one of my publications on "culture of fear" and he has been generous to support my work on fearology overall since 2000.

His position is founder and president of Gavin De Becker & Associates, an American top security firm with international recognition as well. He's a big player in the world of violence and how to prevent it, especially for judges, celebrities and so on. He has several books and articles and is on video interviews all over. He is an amazing psychological 'counselor' as well in re: to people who have been terrified, attacked, and threatened [1].

He is recently (to my surprise), now becoming more public and even political in the public sphere of culture and politics. He has recently been called a "billionaire donar" on one leftist podcast, in re: to his (suspicious in their eyes) alignment with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his bid for 2024 president of the USA. We'll have to keep watching where this all goes. But in the meantime, I support De Becker getting involved in political life at this scale and indeed even if he wants to be a superpack donor, not that I encourage that regime of political elitism and money-dropping [2]. Anyways, I look forward to hearing more from De Becker and I'm glad to help out, especially in the project he has, like myself (and others) to better educate our society about fear (and, what Gavin ultimately wants, which is a "fear less" society [3] and he wants us all, more or less, to become "warriors" [4])--now, that gets really interesting. And, not surprising, I am also a critic of his fear theory in important aspects, but that nonetheless does not diminish my respect for it. 

Endnotes

1. E.g., For his recent interview live with Sarah Silverman go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYdUV0H16lY

2. I note that De Becker with all his money and influence is not backing Marianne Williamson, and her pursuit much more forthright than RFK Jr., to make the world fear less --and, I am referring to all of MW's long career since 1983 at least, to have society shift from a politics of fear to a politics of love. She, in my view, ought to be highly supported by people like De Becker. That said, I really don't know who De Becker funds in politics, but the recent expose' podcast I mention about does say De Becker has donated 4.5 million already to RFK Jr.'s campaign bid for dems president in 2024.

3. De Becker, G. (2002). Fear Less: Real truth about risk, safety, and security in a time of terrorism. NY: Little, Brown & Co.

4. See intro of the interview he does with Sarah [endnote 1 video], and he calls Sarah a (woman) "warrior," validating her with great admiration. 

"Aung San Suu Kyi [purple dress, says] "Attacks on Muslims, Not Ethnic Cleansing" (BBC News Interview, posted Oct.24, 2013] go to: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNVE_Ch_Q18

For a long time I have followed the oppositional leadership struggles of a political leader who espouses (Buddhist-based) fearlessness in much of her writing and speeches, of which she also won a Nobel Peace Prize for. She has always said that until we manage fear well, individually and collectively, including a healthy rule of law and democracy, there will be no real peace in her own country Myanmar (formerly Burma) or anywhere else for that matter. So, in that light I have written about her as one of the important leaders today of the Fearlessness Movement. 

In the last four or five years, and since she was released from house-arrest (for many years) to be in the public and run as head of the opposition party again, now she is being severely criticized by many in her own country and in the world, due to her seeming inability to stop what some call "ethnic cleansing" (referring to Muslims being targeted in this mostly Buddhist country). She has herself given a BBC interview on this topic (2013), which I recommend, as the interviewer pressures her to admit something she is not willing to admit nor agrees with the interviewers perspective. I am interested in this debate and how she handles it, and especially how she talks about "fear" and its role in this ethnic conflict in her country (which, could apply most anywhere with such conflicts, hatred and violence). I quote the poignant part of this interview below, and note how the interviewer pretty much disregards the impact of "fear" and wants to talk about disproportionate "numbers of victims" (especially on the Muslim side) as Kyi tries to emphasize a deeper issue--and ultimately, it is build social mistrust chronically because of the problem (I believe she would agree) from decades of dictatorship ruling in her country, and the violence between the two religions is really a symptom of this deeper Fear Problem. Here is her response (an excerpt): 

KYI : "The [radicalization of religion, violence, and ethnic hatred] problems arose last year, and I think this is due to fear on both sides, and this is what the world needs to understand, that the fear is not just on the side of the Muslims [victims], but on the side of the Buddhists [victims] as well.... There's fear on both sides and this is what is leading to all these troubles..."

When Kyi is asked about all the "friends" who abandoned her during her coming out as a political leader over 25 years ago, she is gracious to accept this betrayal, and disassociation because of the danger of aligning with her, and she says, "... you cannot expect people to be brave and outspoken all the time." As much as I understand her position, I truly was disappointed in this interview clip that she did not teach about what fearlessness is... no, it wasn't even mentioned, as it should be, and as is core to the best of Buddhist teachings. Now, on the other hand, if you investigate what is going on in Myanmar today, there are conflicts between Buddhist senior monks and leaders, as to how to fight back against what is a perception (true or not, fear-based or not) of radical Islamic movements in Myanmar. I think this whole situation politically, religiously, culturally, in this country is one to watch in the future as it unfolds, because therein is a story of what happens when fear meets fearlessness, and the true Buddhists involved are going to be challenged by the Buddhist teachings of fearlessness--so, will they actually give in to fear and not utilize the teachings of fearlessness as their spiritual leader and others leaders have taught for millenium. This is a good test case for the world to watch. I encourage all, Buddhists included, to pay attention and return to the basics of the path of fearlessness, albeit, recognizing that fear(s) are going to increase in Myanmar but everywhere in the world. The spirit of the Fearlessness Movement must not be abandoned. I think general immature ("traditionalist" and "tribal") versions of ethnocentric consciousness (largely fear-based in "protectionism" of cultural and religious identities and institutions) will be showing up, and showing this consciousness is non-adaptive to a globalizing 21st century world.