VIX Up! ...but is it really?

Market volatility has surely increased in the last month and there's been tremendous calls for corrections and etc etc.  One point people are making is that the VIX, the so called fear indicator, is up sharply!  ...but is it?

Yes, its definitely jumped as you can see above, now hitting 18.6 from a low of 12ish just a month ago.

However when you put it in the longer term context...

In the 2 year chart, you can see the VIX is still at a significant low vs other points in the last few years. So yes market volatility is increasing but its still low for now.  It'll be interesting to see how much farther it'll go.  If it returns to its normal ranges as the market begins a correction, this would imply we have a lot farther of a drop and volatility to go.  This may only be the beginning of the journey.