The Poppi Chronicles

In his 1933 Inaugural Address, Franklin Roosevelt told a country devastated by the Depression that it was his “firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Fear, he said, was “a nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror”.

 Respectfully, Roosevelt was only partially correct. We must also fear those that would use fear as a tool to frighten us into doing things their way.

This past week I read that a Republican National Committee 72 page instructive Power Point presentation had surfaced.  The presentation, in graphic detail, explained the “hot buttons” to be used to “motivate” donors to give.  According to Politico™, “the Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on “fear” of President Barack Obama and a promise to ‘save the country from trending toward socialism.’”

History is filled with those that used fear to terrorize others into submission.  Hitler convinced his people and eventually other national leaders that unless eradicated, the Jews would destroy the world.  After Pearl Harbor, the same President Roosevelt that warned of succumbing to fear signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the internment of 120,000 Japanese people.  Most (62%) were US citizens – our neighbors.  The attack on September 11, 2001 provided the Bush Administration with the fear-based tool they needed to gain approval for the war in Iraq, the torture of inmates at Guantanamo Bay, and the “bending” of our Constitution. In 2004 Carl Rove, by making certain that an initiative banning gay marriage appeared on 13 state ballots, used homophobia to mobilize the party base. Motivated by fear, they came out and voted in large numbers in opposition to the initiatives and, by the way, gave George W. Bush a second term.  And, in 2008, the proponents of California’s Proposition 8 relied on that same homophobia to convince a majority of California’s voters that allowing gays the right to marry would somehow destroy the institution of marriage and undermine the very fiber of our education system.

Fear is such an easy tool to use.  Because it deals in the abstract – an unknown outcome – “facts” or the truth are irrelevant.  The RNC knows that President Obama is neither a Socialist nor does he intend to take the country into Socialism.  But he just might.  The fact that he hasn’t doesn’t matter.  That he might – the unknown outcome – is what they want us to fear.  That’s how fear works.  Fear mongers seize on an unknown and terrible outcome, and convince us that it is likely to happen, if and only if we refuse to do whatever it is they want us to do.

How do we manage fear?  Knowledge is the enemy of fear.  The more we know the less effect fear can have on us.  Ask questions – demand answers.  If you are told that we are headed toward inevitable socialism, demand verifiable proof.  If you are told that allowing gays the right to marry will destroy your marriage or the education of your children, demand to be told how that will happen.

When it comes to fear, we do have a choice. Stay informed.  The more we lift the cloud of the unknown, the less there will be to fear!