The Politics of Fear
Much of what happens in the political/governmental arena these days is based on fear.
Merriman-Webster defines fear as a strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger.
I would add to that: when we don’t know the danger, we fear what it might be.
We also know that when we know the danger for what it actually is, the fear of it is often dissipated into understanding and rational coping.
When we look back, there are few things that we originally may have feared that truly deserved it. We can start with our childhood and the bogeyman – the monster – under the bed or wherever – in the dark. We fear what we don’t know.
Parents use fear frequently to control the thoughts and therefore the behavior of children.
In the hands of the wrong people, fear is an extremely strong control mechanism, a way to dominate others – even a society. It’s a way to build power. It’s how tyranny works.
Take a moment and think about the thing(s) you’ve feared in the last ten years.
Imagine a scenario where an unknown and mysterious pathogen is unleashed on the planet. A deadly disease that is invisible, everyone has it and it’s contagious, and it’s amplified by the news media and health experts as they say millions are going to be infected and die.
Sound familiar? It should, because that’s what happened in 2020 and beyond. COVID initially started out as a serious and deadly infection where millions were projected to die. Fear was rampant in the country. Governments issued orders to enforce an unprecedented shutdown of most every business and activity, including schools, churches, nursing homes and exercise gyms. But rather quickly after the initial fear that spread like wildfire, those reactions were shown to be unfounded. However, those same governments continued to stoke the fires of fear. Mask wearing continued to be the orders. Many people’s minds were trained to believe their loved ones, friends, and every other person they might encounter, as well as the fresh air that gives them life, was an enemy. Why? Because once fear is implanted, and continuously reaffirmed by the news media and health officials, and opposing opinions are shut down, it’s hard for many to actually be calm and rational and differentiate between fear and facts. The danger was for seniors and those with immunodeficiency. This is a superb example of how fear can be and was used to control the population. Hysteria was the general rule for a while.
Add this. The federal government and many states and cities required proof of vaccination to visit family, travel, or go to a restaurant – when the science/knowledge was apparent that it wasn’t a pandemic of the unvaccinated as we were told. The fear of not being vaccinated forced many skeptics to do something they probably wouldn’t have done – get poked.
I’d suggest that most of us have a certain fear of the IRS. The complications of first understanding and then correctly completing the required forms leaves many of us with a hope and a prayer when filing that annual return. We dread the audit prospect.
Then there’s climate change.
The world is going to end in 5 years! The melting icecaps and the rising oceans will make whole new shoreline properties around the world and displace millions of people. Every blizzard, every tornado, every rainstorm – or the lack thereof (drought) – are attributed to climate change. There are few greater examples of unfounded fear. We know it’s unfounded because the ‘loud’ politicos – the elite – do little or nothing to change their own behaviors. If you don’t practice it, you don’t believe it.
We’re told things like Russia’s first move to take over all of Europe is the invasion of Ukraine. Putin has been indicted for war crimes to supposedly show us he needs to be replaced.
Our DOJ has put the fear of being jailed into parents and certain social media posts.
Etc. All BS – propaganda.
Perhaps the biggest on-ongoing fear these days is if you happen to publicly disagree with the wrong person or ideology. You are ostracized – banned from social media – canceled – and called a racist – a bigot – or maybe even a domestic terrorist.
The examples cited are ‘political,’ not science or reality based. They are fear tactics and they’re working.
These are but a few examples of how fear can be and was used to force behavior.
Fear is used as a weapon by those who see themselves as in control and powerful enough to demand compliance.
The more fearful we are, the easier we are to control. Damn the Constitution!
I go back to the famous quote of FDR after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941: “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Roosevelt was encouraging the American people to look forward to the future with hope, confidence, and optimism. He realized how debilitating fear can be, how crippling it is to the human psyche, and how it can sap people’s strength and moral fiber. That being the case, he wanted the American people to put aside their fears and concentrate on the bigger picture.
It’s a sad day when we fail to recognize the antics being used against rationality and the facts are employed, especially in the political arena –- as is done regularly in tyrannies.
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-does-the-phrase-the-only-thing-we-have-to-153157
SPIDER Bites
This week’s trivia question: What do snakes use to smell? Answer to last week: Name of the (classic) film where Ralphie was told repeatedly “you’ll shoot your eye out:” A Christmas Story.
Chinook salmon fishing season was canceled on the Pacific coast earlier this month. While it will impact many jobs, the commercial fishermen are supportive of the protection for the long term of the business. Low fresh water/river levels prompted the action.
The April Atlanta Fed report predicts a 1.5% increase in GDP this year. Even if GDP stays positive, the average household is losing money hand over fist as it deals with 5-9% overall inflation. Food, energy, and transportation prices/costs – basic stuff to all of us – are significantly higher than the overall number. Remember also, we hear inflation numbers for year over year, but since 2021 the cumulative prices/costs increases are well into double digits. The average household can’t keep up.
The March CPI report indicates inflation ran at 5% last month. We’re oh so happy overall inflation was 1% less than February. March 2022 had inflation at 8.5% over a year earlier. So, we paid 13.5% more last month for stuff than we did in 2021. Gas pump prices are spiking again. Meanwhile the economy is showing more signs of recession. Happy days!
Small business confidence has dropped as inflation weighs on the outlook. The NFIB’s (National Federation of Independent Business) March data showed that small business owners are far from sanguine about the economy. Labor and inflation costs continue to pose the biggest problems for small businesses and plans to hire more employees are falling.
BTW, bankruptcies filed last month were 42.368, up 17% from March 2022.
Walmart announced it will be closing four Chicago stores – half of them. My guess is the company sees the non-profitability handwriting on the wall with the newly elected mayor.
For many years Bud Light has been the most popular beer brand in America – by a couple billion dollars. The beer’s recent celebration of a trans activist in its ads, plus ‘woke’ public comments earlier this month by the head of Bud Light operations has sent Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA stock into a nosedive. I presume Bud Light sales will follow. “Get woke, go broke.” –John Ringo, author
