This plague on our nation—one that has been spreading like wildfire—is a potent mix of fear coupled with unhealthy doses of paranoia and intolerance, tragic hallmarks of the post-9/11 America in which we live and the constantly shifting crises that keep the populace in a state of high alert.
Everywhere you turn, those on both the left- and right-wing are fomenting distrust and division. You can’t escape it.
We’re being fed a constant diet of fear: fear of a virus, fear of the unmasked, fear of terrorists, fear of illegal immigrants, fear of people who are too religious, fear of people who are not religious enough, fear of extremists, fear of the government, fear of those who fear the government. The list goes on and on.
The strategy is simple yet effective: the best way to control a populace is through fear and discord.
Fear makes people stupid.
Confound them, distract them with mindless news chatter and entertainment, pit them against one another by turning minor disagreements into major skirmishes, and tie them up in knots over matters lacking in national significance.
Most importantly, divide the people into factions, persuade them to see each other as the enemy and keep them screaming at each other so that they drown out all other sounds. In this way, they will never reach consensus about anything and will be too distracted to notice the police state closing in on them until the final crushing curtain falls.
This is how free people enslave themselves and allow tyrants to prevail.
This Machiavellian scheme has so ensnared the nation that few Americans even realize they are being manipulated into adopting an “us” against “them” mindset. Instead, fueled with fear and loathing for phantom opponents, they agree to pour millions of dollars and resources into political elections, militarized police, spy technology, endless wars, COVID-19 mandates, etc., hoping for a guarantee of safety that never comes.
All the while, those in power—bought and paid for by lobbyists and corporations—move their costly agendas forward, and “we the suckers” get saddled with the tax bills and subjected to pat downs, police raids and round-the-clock surveillance.
Turn on the TV or flip open the newspaper on any given day, and you will find yourself accosted by reports of government corruption, corporate malfeasance, militarized police, marauding SWAT teams, and egregious assaults on the rights of the citizenry.
America has already entered a new phase, one in which communities are locked down, employees are forced to choose between keeping their jobs or exercising their freedoms, children are arrested in schools, military veterans are forcibly detained by government agents, and law-abiding Americans are finding their movements tracked, their financial transactions documented and their communications monitored.
These threats are not to be underestimated.
Yet even more dangerous than these violations of our basic rights is the language in which they are couched: the language of fear. It is a language spoken effectively by politicians on both sides of the aisle, shouted by media pundits from their cable TV pulpits, marketed by corporations, and codified into bureaucratic laws that do little to make our lives safer or more secure.
Fear, as history shows, is the method most often used by politicians to increase the power of government.
So far, these tactics are working.
An atmosphere of fear permeates modern America.
Each successive crisis in recent years (a COVID-19 pandemic, terrorism, etc.)—manufactured or legitimate—has succeeded in reducing the American people to what commentator Dan Sanchez refers to as “herd-minded hundreds of millions [who] will stampede to the State for security, bleating to please, please be shorn of their remaining liberties.”
Sanchez continues:
Fear not, but fear fear itself, agreed! Those that live in fear are troubling to be around, their energy is off balance, and Franklin D. Roosevelt noted such in a speech alluding the fact fear was the worst enemy of mankind!
ReplyDeleteFear paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. Since 9/11
many of our populace have been living in fear thanks to pounding fear into us by Big Brother Government IMO! Yet don't expect Gov. to protect us from anything, nope, ask how Covid over 20 years has been allowed into our country, how un-vetted terrorists have free assess, how corruption/traitor's within Gov. seems allowed to the point we currently find ourselves; No protection from Gov., so where did fear get anyone? Now viola, you can get fear as a daily supplement from this Government if you allow yourself to buy into all their propaganda. American Citizen's should not have to tolerate, nor live like this, keep it simple stupid applies.
Sounds like we need a changing of the guard, out with the old, in with the new! We are concerned that playing the fear game has compromised actions needed to demand a do over, and our Nation must fight back for limited Government, stop those that keep breaking our Constitutional Laws, and expect the masses to go along with stupidity they sell us. Keep it simple, Government has not, they created on purpose big messes IMO, with our open borders, lying, mandates, trying to control resources, making nefarious deals with communist countries as reputed strongly, listening to mouthpieces from other countries, and trying to undo everything we stand for, and what always had worked; It's like Old Yeller, once gone mad, no good anymore for anyone, got to be put down, remember this movie?!
Figuratively speaking, Americans need a Government do over IMO, need folks that govern to serve the populace in good ways, the way that is tried and true, which goes back a long time ago; Too many lies have surfaced showing most folks don't believe anything we are told, except those that live in fear that is. (: