Fear Mongering


President George W. Bush at the Cincinnati Museum Terminal, October 7, 2002, claiming Iraq had WMDs and Saddam was in partnership with al Qaeda
President George W. Bush at the Cincinnati Museum Terminal, October 7, 2002, falsely claiming Iraq had WMDs and that Saddam Hussein was in partnership with al Qaeda

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Reading time – 17 seconds  .  .  .

I’ve been wondering and worrying for many years about the enormous rise in worldwide fear and anger. The world seems so much more polarized today, more us-versus-them. What is driving that?

Today I got a piece of the answer via this essay on the Daily Kos. The short answer is that for years our government and political mouthpieces manipulated us by means of fear. They made sure we stayed scared by flashing in our faces the idiotic color-coded threat levels, by telling us to line our windows with duct tape and by warning us to scan airplanes for bad guys. And they did it with outright lies.

Fear mongering was and still is being used as a propaganda tool. And don’t think for a minute that you’re somehow immune to this sick use of power, because it doesn’t work that way.Goebbels

Just click through and read the essay. Do it now and you will understand. And you won’t like what you read because it is so – what’s the word? – Goebbels.

Be sure to give some thought to exactly who benefits from the fear mongering. It isn’t you.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

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2 Responses to Fear Mongering

  1. Jim Altschuler May 31, 2015 Reply

    A sad commentary but, to the best of my knowledge, totally true. What is also sad is that people are gullible enough to accept this “bullying” tactic.

    WAKE UP, people.

  2. Joni Lindgren May 31, 2015 Reply

    Do you remember the daily postings of those color codes that signified the threat levels and being told that when you board an airplane, you were supposed to look around the plane to see if you could find a suspicious looking middle-eastern person? We were all on high-alert for suspicious people wherever we went from there on in. They did it well, didn’t they? Cheney has ties to Nazi Germany and “mind manipulation”.

    There was a meeting this past Tuesday for those interested in working for Bernie Sanders. The room upstairs of the Public House in downtown Elgin was packed!! I volunteered to have a big event (250 or more) to have Bernie come and speak AND to collect signatures for him. I’m thinking of having an event at the Pinstripes in the outdoor mall at the Arboretum of Barrington and fashion it similar to what Sharon did for Alan Grayson and Mike Papantonio. I’m also going to see if I can get a union hall on Randall Road to have the event….that way people won’t have to pay $26.00 to see him. I’d rather have people use their donations for his campaign instead. He’s going to need it since he’s not going to accept money from corporations and the wealthy. One of the things on Bernie’s agenda is to overturn Citizens United.

    Bernie is the only politician who can save us! He has been for the middle class and working people for years! His message has always been consistent and he has never changed his mind on what he believes….as opposed to so many others.