Project Fear: Fear as a Political Tool

Project Fear: Fear as a Political Tool

Since the beginning of time, fear has been a tool to be used to get what you want. You can pretend that you are bigger and stronger than you actually are. One example of such tactic is what Britain did soon after the evacuation operation in Dunkirk in 1940. The RAF was not at full strength. The Army was on its knees with soldiers that barely managed to escape carrying their rifles. The only significant tool at the time was the Royal Navy. But many felt that Britain was playing for time. Suddenly, out of nowhere, pretend weapons, pretend artillery, pretend aircraft started to appear so that enemy reconnaissance crews could see that Britain was not naked but ready to defend itself.

Debates that cannot be won with serious propositions based on factual evidence can be won with fear. You want to make people believe that a threat is very real and your proposed course of action should be adopted as a matter of urgency. You can make people feel that they are weaker than they actually are and that should they try to operate independently from others they will be doomed. The purpose of this is to keep people chained to a particular situation of dependency. Beware! We are facing the abyss! Suddenly, without any real justification and simply because mass media messages keep talking about the impending catastrophe, many are convinced that the threat is real and that something absolutely tragic is going to happen if they choose to go their own way.

The more credible the media that spread fear the more people will believe that a certain threat is real. Orson Welles knew it very well when a radio broadcast told American listeners that the USA was being invaded by extraterrestrials. The radio broadcast was followed by a panic wave.

To counter fear, we need facts and credible force to ensure that if there is a panic reaction the situation is going to be under control. Force does not merely exist to counter a threat if there is a real threat but also to reassure those who might panic and engage in actions that would be counterproductive for themselves and others.

Politics is increasingly dominated by all kinds of project-fear and fear has political consequences. Public Opinion is driven by a mix of facts, personal experiences, rumours, presumptions and half truths and this is why perception is so critically important. To alter perception, political operators, mass media and para-political organisations. There is a vast array of labels that can be used to distort political messages, to demonise those who hold different views and to basically prevent their views from becoming widespread. 

Labels like Nazi, Fascist, Racist, Homophobe, Anti-Semite, Islamophobe, et cetera are widely used with a given political purpose: to discredit political opponents. Those using such labels know perfectly well that audiences can be switched off by eliciting an emotional reaction to the said labels. Individuals not only have the capacity to think. They have emotions and if emotions can be manipulated everybody - even the most bright - can be influenced and made to more in a certain direction. Manipulated reactions can become stereotypical to the point that even the most rational of individuals stops thinking.

If I were to ask an individual in Britain if he/she believes that people should be banned from a certain profession or activity on political grounds, the said person would say: Absolutely not. The grounds for such response would be: in a democratic society no one should be discriminated against on political grounds.

When your enquire becomes specific to a particular group, suddenly the answer changes and all kinds of justifications arise that contradict the initial answer to support discrimination on political grounds. The rational process stops and decisions are made because of stereotypes.

There is little difference between the Nuremberg Laws of the 1930s and the attitudes of Liberals and Marxists of today. In the 1930s, laws were passed preventing Jews from getting involved in certain working activities/professions. Today, people that are loosely called Far Right are discriminated against and not allowed access to certain professions and occupations. The Far Right of today are the Jews of the 1930s.

The striking similarities between the Nuremberg Laws of the 1930s and today's restrictions imposed for political reasons are not mere coincidence. Modern Britain looks increasingly similar to the Weimar Republic. We have reached the point when Anti-Terror Legislation is being used for Political Persecution and the independence of the Crown Persecution Service has been compromised. Influential groups are exerting pressure on the legal system and have become the New Inquisition. Cases discarded by the Crown Prosecution Service and Police Authorities for lack of merit are being re-instated and Probation Services are being used to harass those persecuted and jailed for political reasons.

What is happening is not reassuring and sooner than later there will be dramatic consequences that society as a whole will regret. The reactions that we have already seen are merely the tip of the iceberg of what is to come.