I have been writing about the use of fear as a political weapon for some time now…how it can be used to win elections, even the presidency…..and how it used to keep the American people ignorant of facts….look at the current economic slowdown….here in the US we are told by pundits that if we do not cut taxes then we could be the next Greece…..that could possibly be true, but NO one knows for sure….however it is used to get concessions on the political road……
The “Dark” I have in my title is the tactic of terror….and this is also a tool for political gain….from economic policy to foreign policy…..but what is all this use of “fear” and “terror” doing to the American public? What is it doing to the world?
Indeed, politicians have known for thousands of years that playing the fear card gives them more power and makes their subjects more compliant:
“This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.”
– Plato“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
– U.S. President James Madison“Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death”.
– Adolph Hitler“Why of course the people don’t want war … But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship … Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
– Hermann Goering, Nazi leader.“The easiest way to gain control of a population is to carry out acts of terror. [The public] will clamor for such laws if their personal security is threatened”.
– Josef Stalin
But do we have cause to be afraid?
National Safety Council notes:
– You are 17,600 times more likely to die from heart disease than from a terrorist attack
– You are 12,571 times more likely to die from cancer than from a terrorist attack
– You are 11,000 times more likely to die in an airplane accident than from a terrorist plot involving an airplane
– You are 1048 times more likely to die from a car accident than from a terrorist attack
–You are 404 times more likely to die in a fall than from a terrorist attack
– You are 87 times more likely to drown than die in a terrorist attack
– You are 13 times more likely to die in a railway accident than from a terrorist attack
–You are 12 times more likely to die from accidental suffocation in bed than from a terrorist attack
–You are 9 times more likely to choke to death on your own vomit than die in a terrorist attack
–You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist
–You are 8 times more likely to die from accidental electrocution than from a terrorist attack
– You are 6 times more likely to die from hot weather than from a terrorist attack
With all that said…..we Americans are still afraid of the dark and anytime someone tries to dissuade people from their fear, then they labelled and condemned….ignorance is fear’s best friend! For fear cannot exist without ignorance……….therefore ignorance must be cultivated for fear to live on.
Personally, I refuse to succumb to fear and will definite NOT let ignorance win the day……but then…I can read a book!
Yes, exactly! Well said!
But then the whole damned country (both yours and mine) is run that way, isn’t it? It’s not just the terrorist thing – there’s our very WAY OF LIFE!
Create an imaginary need (by advertising) – say a plasma TV or a new car – then create fear… fear that you will not be able to afford it (so lend you the money); the fear that you may lose the TV/car/whatever once you’ve got it (so you have to hang on the what you have rather than risk losing it); f*ck up the economy to make huge profits for gamblers (sorry, that should be BANKERS) and then add the fear that you will lose eveything if you let those businesse fail – so the people pay again. It’s goes on endlessly. We’e afraid to be alone, in a crowd, of guns, of knives, of not having guns, of not having knives – yada, yada, yada. It even STARTS with the fear that Mrs. Jones next door has more or better possessions than you and you are losing out!
Fear = control, exactly as you point out. 👿
Thanx Quin….both sides of our system is just as guilty as the other…..they want to instill fear instead of confidence in the government…..
An excellent inventory! But I don’t think most Americans truly fear being killed by a terrorist attack. I don’t think most Americans experience this kind of “fear” at all. Their fear, if they have it, is much more commonly for the stability of the country, for the socioeconomic things they thought they could take for granted, but may not be able to, and in in some cases, for the founding principles they see in dispute.
Anyone who lives in a higher-risk city is already ready for the risk, and pretty much immune to it. Much as Israelis have lived for decades. Elsewhere, the risk of a terrorist incident barely penetrates the consciousness. So if fear is a factor in our politics, it has little to do with terrorism, and much to do with the direction of our country. And upon that potentially rightening direction of our country, ignorance can work both ways.
Well yes, I agree at this moment in time, although (in my opinion) it WAS used as an excuse to reduce civil liberties and create huge and expensive “anti-terrorism” security forces after 9/11 (for instance). However, the fear that you quote of the “direction of the country” is also largely imaginary and is used endlessly as an excuse for all sorts of BS.
The politicians in Washington (from what I’ve read) do what politicians usually do these days – use sound bites and bumper-stickers to reinforce the rubbish they are talking (ALL parties!) and fear is the common key component in their attempt to get their particular ideology accepted as valid. America is NOT going to hell as far as its way of life is concerned and the economy is NOT about to fail, but BOTH of those things could happen unless someone somewhere starts talking common sense and discussing REAL policies instead of the utter tripe that’s spouted in Washington and much of the media.
THAT (I think) is America’s problem right now and it HAS been the UK’s too until very recently (and could so easily be once again!).
Welcome back Kendrick…….I will agree but here in the South we are bombarded by the “terrorist” thing…….these politicians have a boogey man behind every democrat…..
I have asked people, over and over again, the same question.
Which entity is more likely to ruin or end your life: a bunch of guys in a cave in Afghanistan, or a Federal Government with no restraints on its behavior?
I know what history tells me.
Morning Jolly……I will be posting on your point later today……
Plato was deep!
Yes he was!