The following is an excerpt from Michael’s book “Information Warfare.”
Fear is a powerful tool that governments, corporations, and the media use to control the thoughts and actions of people in several ways. The following tactics have been especially effective during the COVID pandemic:
- Manipulating public opinion: By highlighting potential threats and risks, the media and governments create a sense of urgency or concern. This sways public opinion and convinces people to adopt policies or actions they may not otherwise accept.
- Maintaining control: Governments and corporations use fear to justify force or surveillance to maintain order or protect citizens from perceived threats.
- Limiting freedom: Fear is being used to restrict individual freedoms and civil liberties. Governments are using fear to justify implementing laws and policies that limit personal freedoms and lead to censorship and restrictions on free speech.
- Shaping behavior: Fear can be used to shape individual behavior. Governments and pharmaceutical companies use fear to encourage compliance with certain behaviors and protocols, such as vaccinations, lockdowns, masks, and social distancing.
Overall, fear can be a powerful tool for those in power positions to control people’s thoughts and actions. To be free of fear, being aware of these tactics and critically evaluating the information must be a priority.
FDR and FEAR
One of Franklyn Delano Roosevelt’s famous quotes:
“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is… fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror that paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
The quote was from his 1933 inaugural speech during the “Great Depression.” Twelve years before, he succumbed to infantile paralysis, which resulted in his battles to overcome physical and emotional fears to eventually become President.
In a related May 4, 2016 article from the Harvard Business Review, Vijay Govindarajan and Hylke Faber wrote:
Managing Uncertainty/What FDR Knew about Managing Fear in Times of Change
“Neuroscience now tells us why this was such an effective move (his speech about fear). When we’re in the grip of our fears, we are at least 25 times less intelligent than we are at our best. We don’t think straight. “And we’ll most likely reject anything that takes us out of our comfort zone.”
