Alarmism
Alarmism is the production of needless warnings. Naturally, use of the word implies that one does not share the concerns of the person giving the warnings, and that the danger is overstated.
Some areas where warnings have been called alarmist include:
- The threat of terrorism, nuclear or biochemical attack, etc.
- The prediction of end times events from the Bible
- The alleged erosion of civil liberties.
- The possibility of global warming, and other environmental dangers.
- The economic damage that was supposed to occur because of the Montreal Protocol on ozone depletion.
- The 2002-2003 SARS incident (Though a large number of people did die, many claimed that SARS would become a global catastrophe, claiming the lives of tens of millions).
The accusation of alarmism is not always correct; if one had said in 1933 that Hitler posed a threat to the entire world, one might have been accused of alarmism. The accusation is proven false if the warning comes true.