The Weapon of Fear: How They Use Fear

to Manipulate You
 “He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.” ~Aristotle

Since the moment we were born, society has imposed on us what to do, what
to think and what to feel, and it has conditioned us to believe that if we don’t
follow its rules, we’re bound to get into serious trouble.

Parents taught us to behave in certain ways. If we did, they would reward us,
and if we didn’t, they would punish us. Naturally, every child obeys its
parents, because the child is dependent on the parents — it is a matter of
survival, especially in its very early years.
At school we were taught to think in certain ways. They taught us what to
think, but not how to develop our thinking. And everyone was taught the
same. If we thought in different ways than our classmates, teachers would tell
us we are bad students. They would give us bad grades and might even
expel us from school. Therefore, as students we learned to compromise our
thinking so as to get away with trouble.

Religion taught us to follow anything but our inner voice: scriptures, priests,
god. It taught us to have faith in others, but not to have faith in ourselves.
Religion taught us that, if we did certain things, we would be rewarded with
the bliss of heaven, but if we didn’t we would be punished in hellfire. And who
in his right mind would desire to be punished in hell? And who wouldn’t want
to experience heaven? Not surprisingly, we held religion in dear faith.

Parents, school, and religion used one and the same thing to make us do
what they wanted us to do: fear. If you want to manipulate anybody, first
make him or her afraid. Once afraid, he or she will be ready to accept your
offered suggestions.

This tactic is being continuously used in our everyday life, but we are
unaware of it. Have a clear look around you, and you will see what I mean.
Politicians are being elected by persuading the masses through the use of
fear. Companies are selling their products by manipulating consumers’
insecurities in advertising. Journalists influence public opinion by terrorizing
people’s minds. And these are just a few examples.

Fear is the best weapon of all great manipulators. It can move people to do
anything, no matter how nonsensical it is.

“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act

humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.”
~Bertrand Russell
 Fear-Based Manipulation: How Politicians,
Marketers and the Media Create Panic to
Control the Masses
BY SOFO ARCHON

“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act

humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great
fear.” ~Bertrand Russell

Fear. Without it we wouldn’t be able to survive.

Why? Because it’s the emotion that warns us about potential threats to
our survival and urges us to protect ourselves from them.

Let me give you an example to illustrate what I mean.

Imagine that you’re walking outside in the dark and suddenly you see a
snake jumping right in front of your feet. Immediately fear kicks in. You
start sweating, your heart rate goes up, and your cortisol as well as
adrenaline levels increase. The snake could be poisonous so you
immediately need to protect yourself from it.

In such a dangerous situation, your natural response is most likely

going to be one of the following:

1. Run away from the snake.

2. Injure, kill or somehow immobilize the snake.
3. Freeze in hopes that the snake will be undisturbed by your
presence and leave you alone.

Fear, as the above example shows, is a protective mechanism that is

part of our survival instinct, helping us to stay alive and healthy. But
here’s the problem: when that mechanism becomes overactive and we
start fearing things that don’t actually pose us any threat, it can wreak
havoc not only with our well-being (due to too much stress), but also
with our decision-making (because fear, as you’ll soon find out, can
hinder clear thinking).
Manipulative people are extremely aware of the latter and try their best
to control how you think and behave by using fear-based tactics. Here
you’ll learn what some of those tactics are, as well as what you can do
to avoid falling into their trap.

Do as They Say, Or Else…

Whether you know it or not, fear is constantly being used against you.
By whom? Well, here are a few examples: politicians, marketers, and
the media.

Let’s have a closer look into how they do that, starting with politicians.

The vast majority of politicians are demagogues. A demagogue is

defined as “a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the
desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational
argument.”

Now, the emotion politicians like to appeal to the most is fear. By

intentionally spreading messages that make the general public feel like
it’ll be harmed or utterly destroyed if they aren’t elected in positions of
power or don’t implement certain policies, politicians are able to
persuade the masses to support them.
You might be wondering: How can that be possible? Don’t people base
their decisions on conscious, rational thinking?

Well, they do, much of the time, but rarely when they are gripped by
fear of a threat, whether real or imagined. Here’s why, according to
cognitive psychologist and economist Robin M. Hogarth:

“By creating a state of emergency in our psyche, fear distracts

us from the relevant facts on which we should base our
conscious decisions. A fight-or-flight instinct kicks in
instantaneously when we’re afraid, leaving no time for us to
question its merits. The resulting knee-jerk reaction often leads
to a short-term solution that only tackles the symptoms. This
act-first-think-later approach, however, doesn’t address
underlying causes.”

To illustrate how fear has been used by politicians to influence the

layman, let’s watch a fear-mongering ad used during Lyndon Johnson’s
1964 presidential run to persuade people to vote for him instead of his
warmonger Republican opponent Barry Goldwater who, according to
the ad, would surely lead the US into a nuclear war if elected.

Political leaders harp on any reason they can find to make us panic:
terrorism, immigrants, drugs, crime, minorities, and various others.
A master at creating panic is the current president of the United States,
Donald Trump. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons why he was able
to become the US president in the first place.

Trump’s rhetoric goes like this: “Illegal immigrants are pouring drugs
and violence into America. Radical Islamic terrorists are preparing for
another big US attack. Christians are being executed en masse in the
Middle East.” And so on and so forth.

And what’s the solution to all those issues? He himself, of course. As

sociologist and author Barry Glassner put it:

“[Donald Trump’s] formula is very clean and uncomplicated: Be

very, very afraid. And I am the cure.”

Another American president who used a lot of fear-based rhetoric was

George W. Bush. For instance, right after the 9/11 tragedy, the warning
he issued was: “Be afraid, be very afraid.” Then for years onward he
was repeatedly talking about America being in danger of more terrorist
attacks and that the only way to make it safe again was to bomb Iraq.

Today, it’s crystal clear that Bush had a hidden agenda: to expand and
strengthen the American Empire by gaining economic and geopolitical
power. Panicked and confused, millions of Americans couldn’t
understand what was really going on and blindly consented to the so-
called War on Terror.

I could go on giving countless examples of politicians who’ve tried to

control the masses through the use of fear, but I think these will suffice
to carry my point across.

Terrorized About Terrorism

When we feel that our survival is threatened, we’re ready to do just
about anything to protect our lives. Yet we’re often unknowingly
harming ourselves instead.

For example, a study estimates that at least a thousand additional lives

were lost in US road accidents the year after the 9/11 attacks. The
reason? At that period of time a lot more people chose to drive rather
than fly, out of fear of another possible air-bound terrorist attack,
although the probability of death due to inflight terrorism is calculated
to be 1 in 540,000, while the probability of dying from a car accident is
calculated to be 1 in 7,000.
Of course, it’s understandable why American citizens chose driving
over flying. If you pay attention to any mainstream newspaper or TV
channel, you must be thinking that terrorism is one of the top causes of
death. The reality, however, is that you are way more likely to die from a
multitude of other causes than terrorism, including heart disease,
cancer, obesity, suicide, workplace accidents and contaminated food.
But the mainstream media doesn’t seem to care about those. So why
does it make such a fuss over terrorism?

There are various reasons, such as siding with their preferred political
parties, but the most important one is simply this:

Fear sells like nothing else.

When, for instance, you read a newspaper headline that elicits a fear
response in you, you are much more likely to get the newspaper and
read it. Why? Because as author and journalist Neil Strauss put it:

“We’re wired to respond to fear above everything else. If we

miss an opportunity for abundance, life goes on; if we miss an
important fear cue, it doesn’t.”
Fear drives better ratings and better ratings means increased profit.
The mass media knows this very well and is doing its best to capitalize
on it. By terrorizing us, it’s able to keep our attention hooked and
ruthlessly exploit us for its financial gain.

You are What You Buy

Another way fear is used to control you is through commercial
advertisements.

You might not be consciously aware of it, but corporations are heavily
using fear-based advertising to make you buy their stuff. And it has
been found to work pretty well. By instilling fear in people, advertising
manipulates them into making emotional rather than reasoned choices.

Let’s see an example of how fear-based advertising works.

All the great marketers know well that one of the primary human
desires is to connect with other humans and feel part of a community,
and hence that one of the things people are most afraid of is to be
excluded from their social groups. And through advertising they try to
convince you that if you don’t buy stuff nobody will like you anymore
and that you’ll probably be ostracized by your community.
Buy the latest iPhone and you’ll not appear to be poor. Get this pair of
Nike shoes and you’ll be cool. Obtain this wristwatch and you’ll feel
important. Purchasing them will cost you some money, but not doing
so will cost you your happiness.

Afraid and insecure, most people blindly do what they’re told, thus
wasting their hard-earned money buying things they don’t really need
and which only provide them with a temporary, superficial sense of
belonging and emotional gratification.
 Dealing with Fear-Based
Manipulation
Now that we’ve looked at different ways fear is being used against you,
I’d like to share with you a few simple tips that can help you to avoid
falling victim to fear-based manipulation.

The first and most important thing is to identify fear when it arises
within you and try to see it for what it is, without shying away from it or
pretending that it’s not there. By bringing fear into your conscious
awareness, you’ll be able to examine where it’s coming from and what
message it’s trying to convey to you, which will help you to better
understand it and hence deal with it. In fact, research has suggested
that just acknowledging an emotion and explicitly identifying fear can
help manage its subsequent effects on our behavior.

Secondly, when dealing with political, social or other important issues,

remember to associate feelings of fear with the need to slow down and
regain mental and emotional clarity. Instead of succumbing to
impulsive reactions, take the time to educate yourself on the issue at
hand. This will not only allow you to assess your options and take
better-informed decisions, but also to discern what you should fear
from what you shouldn’t.
Lastly, instead of blindly conforming to the norm and obeying to
authority figures, act mindfully and take responsibility for your actions.
Just because a renowned politician, an award-winning journalist or a
commercial on a major TV channel tells you what to do or believe, that
doesn’t mean you should. Sadly, after years upon years of
conditioning, most people don’t use their critical thinking and instead
let others think for them. To break free from that conditioning, be sure
to doubt — and not mindlessly accept — any “truth” that’s being
thrown at you by someone else, regardless of who that person might
be.

The politics of fear: How fear goes

tribal, allowing us to be
manipulated
January 11, 2019 6.46am EST
Author

Fear is arguably as old as life. It is deeply ingrained in the living organisms

that have survived extinction through billions of years of evolution. Its roots
are deep in our core psychological and biological being, and it is one of our
most intimate feelings. Danger and war are as old as human history, and so
are politics and religion.

Demagogues have always used fear for intimidation of the subordinates or

enemies, and shepherding the tribe by the leaders. Fear is a very strong
tool that can blur humans’ logic and change their behavior.

I am a psychiatrist and neuroscientist specializing in fear and trauma, and

I have some evidence-based thoughts on how fear is abused in politics.

We learn fear from tribe mates

Like other animals, we humans can learn fear from experience, such as
being attacked by a predator. We also learn from observation, such as
witnessing a predator attacking another human. And, we learn by
instructions, such as being told there is a predator nearby.

Learning from our conspecifics – members of the same species – is an

evolutionary advantage that has prevented us from repeating dangerous
experiences of other humans. We have a tendency to trust our tribe mates
and authorities, especially when it comes to danger. It is adaptive: Parents
and wise old men told us not to eat a special plant, or not to go to an area in
the woods, or we would be hurt. By trusting them, we would not die like a
great-grandfather who died eating that plant. This way we accumulated
knowledge.

Tribalism has been an inherent part of the human history. There has
always been competition between groups of humans in different ways and
with different faces, from brutal wartime nationalism to a strong loyalty to
a football team. Evidence from cultural neuroscience shows that our brains
even respond differently at an unconscious level simply to the view of faces
from other races or cultures.

At a tribal level, people are more emotional and consequently less logical:
Fans of both teams pray for their team to win, hoping God will take sides in
a game. On the other hand, we regress to tribalism when afraid. This is an
evolutionary advantage that would lead to the group cohesion and help us
fight the other tribes to survive.

Tribalism is the biological loophole that many politicians have banked on

for a long time: tapping into our fears and tribal instincts. Some examples
are Nazism, the Ku Klux Klan, religious wars and the Dark Ages. The
typical pattern is to give the other humans a different label than us, and
say they are going to harm us or our resources, and to turn the other group
into a concept. It does not have to necessarily be race or nationality, which
are used very often. It can be any real or imaginary difference: liberals,
conservatives, Middle Easterners, white men, the right, the left, Muslims,
Jews, Christians, Sikhs. The list goes on and on.

When building tribal boundaries between “us” and “them,” some

politicians have managed very well to create virtual groups of people that
do not communicate and hate without even knowing each other: This is the
human animal in action!

Fear is uninformed

During the first year after my arrival in the U.S., one night I entered a
public parking lot to turn around. People were leaving a building in
Orthodox Jewish dress; it was a temple. For a short second, I noticed a
subtle, weird but familiar feeling: fear!

I tried to trace the source of this fear, and here it was: My hometown was
almost all Muslims, and I never met a Jew growing up. One day when I was
a little child and we were visiting a village, an old lady was telling a crazy
story about how Orthodox Jews steal Muslim kids and drink their blood!

Having come from a well-educated family that respects all religions, being
an educated doctor and having so many great Jewish friends, I felt
embarrassed that still the child within had taken that stupid and obviously
false story a bit seriously, only because that child had never met a Jew.

This human tendency is meat to the politicians who want to exploit fear: If
you grew up only around people who look like you, only listened to one
media outlet and heard from the old uncle that those who look or think
differently hate you and are dangerous, the inherent fear and hatred
toward those unseen people is an understandable (but flawed) result.

To win us, politicians, sometimes with the media’s help, do their best to
keep us separated, to keep the real or imaginary “others” just a “concept.”
Because if we spend time with others, talk to them and eat with them, we
will learn that they are like us: humans with all the strengths and
weaknesses that we possess. Some are strong, some are weak, some are
funny, some are dumb, some are nice and some not too nice.

Fear is illogical and often dumb

Some people are afraid of spiders, others

of snakes or even cats and dogs. Aris Suwanmalee/Shutterstock.com

Very often my patients with phobias start with: “I know it is stupid, but I
am afraid of spiders.” Or it may be dogs or cats, or something else. And I
always reply: “It is not stupid, it is illogical.” We humans have different
functions in the brain, and fear oftentimes bypasses logic. There are
several reasons. One is that logic is slow; fear is fast. In situations of
danger, we ought to be fast: First run or kill, then think.

Politicians and the media very often use fear to circumvent our logic. I
always say the U.S. media are disaster pornographers – they work too
much on triggering their audiences’ emotions. They are kind of political
reality shows, surprising to anyone from outside the U.S.
When one person kills a few others in a city of millions, which is of course a
tragedy, major networks’ coverage could lead one to perceive the whole
city is under siege and unsafe. If one undocumented illegal immigrant
murders a U.S. citizen, some politicians use fear with the hope that few will
ask: “This is terrible, but how many people were murdered in this country
by U.S. citizens just today?” Or: “I know several murders happen every
week in this town, but why am I so scared now that this one is being
showcased by the media?”

We do not ask these questions, because fear bypasses logic.

Fear can turn violent

Toppled headstones at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia Feb. 27, 2017. A report on the vandalism cited an increase in anti-
Semitic bias since the 2016 election. Jaqueline Larma/AP Photo

There is a reason that the response to fear is called the “fight or flight”
response. That response has helped us survive the predators and other
tribes that have wanted to kill us. But again, it is another loophole in our
biology to be abused. By scaring us, the demagogues turn on our
aggression toward “the others,” whether in the form of vandalizing their
temples or harassing them on the social media.
When demagogues manage to get hold of our fear circuitry, we often
regress to illogical, tribal and aggressive human animals, becoming
weapons ourselves – weapons that politicians use for their own agenda.