There are a number of things we humans fear but the greatest probably has to do with fearing death. That appears to be innate. We are born with it. We instinctively flee anything we perceive as dangerous, especially anything life-threatening.
Aside from that innate fear, our second greatest fear is a fear of fear. Franklin Roosevelt said to the nation after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” He was right, but we did not learn our lesson. In the words of the song from South Pacific, we have to be taught to hate and fear. And we are carefully taught.
Numerous groups are masters at playing the fear card. We parents teach our children early in their young lives to fear. They don’t always know what is going to happen when we say, “I’m going to count to three,” but they learn quickly to fear finding out. The fear of what may happen is more powerful than the actual consequence, at least in their minds. And we parents build on that fear.
When I was a child I knew if I misbehaved that I was either going to get yelled at or spanked. I usually opted for the spanking. Scolding did not seem to release a parent’s pent-up frustration, so I was faced with living the remainder of the day under the threat of more scolding, more anger, and more little jobs to punish me. A spanking was pretty much it. Frustration was released, the crime was punished and that was that. On the other hand, I dreaded the “Wait until your father gets home” threat. That forced me to live the rest of the day with my fears of what was to come.
Churches are good at playing the fear angle. Angels on high may have quelled the insecurity of shepherds in the fields by saying “Fear not,” but ministers and church leaders ever since have used fear as the primary means of keeping the faithful in line. Listen to any television or radio minister and you will be warned multiple times of the fate that can befall you if you fail to follow the path they prescribe. You can lose your soul to eternal damnation or you can condemn your town to destruction by not voting the way Reverend Pat Robertson says you should. A lot of good things are promised, but you can count on a lot of bad things happening if you do not tow the religious line as seen by these pulpit prophets. Fear, it seems, plays a big role in the pulpit patter.
It did not take long for politicians to notice the power of fear. Listen to almost any political speech, but especially those given in political ads, and you will hear about all the dire things that will happen if you vote for the wrong person. “Elect me and I will bring this country back to the greatness it is destined to enjoy.” That suggests, of course, that the country is going to hell in a hand basket and, further, that the speaker has the political knowledge to put us back on the proper road. Like the ministers they emulate, they purport to know sin when they see it and know how to save us from ourselves. But first, you must accept the fear they are selling.
What if you do not? Well, the nation or your town will be destroyed, your children will live in poverty, your soul will rot in hell, your golf score will increase and your income will decline, or something worse. You will suffer. This is because they (politicians, preachers, or parents) must build the fear factor in your mind so they can control your behavior.
If we analyze the comments of these prophets of doom we will recognize that we have nothing to fear except the fear they created in our minds. We are better off learning to deal with the problem rather than the fear.
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