On Fear as a Tactic

“When an objection cannot be made formidable, there is some policy in trying to make it frightful; and to substitute the yell and the war-whoop, in the place of reason, argument and good order”

At the start of the World War ll Franklin Roosevelt told the nation that all we need fear is fear itself.

Today it seems that fear is to be embraced. To insure that the wrong vote is not cast, the spectre of a mushroom cloud is invoked; to justify an ill-conceived foreign policy, it is said that wild-eyed fundamentalists will find and kill us if we don’t continue to prosecute the very same war that helps to bring forth a new generation of wild-eyed fundamentalists – fear playing into fear, and engendering more fear.

Fear as a tactic to hold power and manipulate people is one used by tyrants, fools, and bad presidents. It does not serve the good of the people.

All we need fear is fear itself – and those that use fear to gain advantage or cling to power.

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