Is Rep Jim McDermott correct about the "Fear Factor"?

[kentuck]

From Buzzflash interview:
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/08/14_mcdermott.html


REP. JIM MCDERMOTT: The American people were stunned and really frightened by 9/11. We hadn’t had this kind of thing for 185 years in this country, since the British invaded the Capitol in 1812. And we had always had this feeling of invulnerability –- that somehow we are floating above it, and nothing can happen to us. And that particular incident was a real shock to everybody in the country to varying degrees.

Now the administration then realized that they had some plans that they wanted to get done, one of which was to take us to war. And the only way you can make people go to war is to make them feel that there’s someone to be afraid of, that we have to go out there and get. And they very skillfully, over the last year –- almost two years now -– have played the themes of fear on almost a continuous basis. And they have raised the level, and then they drop it. And they raise it again, and then they drop it. And you get the experience, whether you’re at the airport, or whether you’re listening to the radio, or the speeches that people make.

So we’ve had everything from going out and getting a smallpox shot to the orange and red and yellow, and all these codes that nobody knows what they mean. You’ve sent people out to buy plastic and duct tape. We have just run the American people. Periodically, when the people sort of get settled down, the administration stirs them up again, always talking about the war on terror, the war on terror, the war on terror. And then they begin to use things to get us -– I mean, they were having difficulty in convincing us we ought to go to war in Iraq, so they had to ratchet it up. And they began to say things that were beyond the truth, or beyond what they really knew, in terms of aluminum tubes and weapons of mass destruction, and buying uranium in Niger.

And all these things were all exaggerations to play on people’s fears, because the worst thing that you can think of –- or well, they thought they could think of -– was to have al-Qaeda terrorists running around with nuclear weapons and dirty bombs, coming into our ports, or being somehow out there where we can’t find them and don’t know where they are. And they just created an atmosphere of continual fear.
...more

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Short answer - YES

McDermott is absolutely right. Instill fear in the people, give them a fearsome enemy, and they will call for protection. And, blindly follow those that promise it.

Sooner or later, they will wake up to the fact that they are no safer now, in fact less safe, than they were prior to poll raising wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and all the "security" measures taken.

[el_gato]

2. sums it up pretty well

[Armstead]

3. Sounds like a perfect summary to me

Terrorism is obviously something to be worried about. But the extent to which the Media/Political/Industrial Complex has exploited it and created a climate of fear that has brainwashed society into submission is inexcusable.

McDermott's a psychiatrist, so I trust he has good insight into the psychological aspects of all of this.

[kentuck]

4. And Buzzflash made an exelllent point:

<snip>
BUZZFLASH: The way you describe it in the American Prospect commentary is: "Here's how it works: Throw a hundred claims against the wall and poll every night to see what sticks. Leak stories that are later discredited. Get a graduate student's dissertation and plagiarize it. Lift paragraphs from a war-industry magazine. Every so often, raise the danger level to code "yellow" or "orange." Give the people a rest. Then start all over again. Mix it all up and put an official seal on it. Now it seems true, despite the skepticism of intelligence professionals."

[ewagner]

5. Missing one element

The fear factor is certainly played like a violin by this administration but the damnedable effectiveness of it come in their potent cocktail 1 part fear + 2 parts patriotism

Fear itself is debilitating. Patriotism (in rep eyes) gives a motivation. You can't have people immobalized by fear, they have to be given a warm and fuzzy direction to stampede in....patriotism works just fine.

[lumpy]

6. Yes, McD is right, a time-tested method for maintaining power.

Next step is to create fear of certain citizens of the country.

[kentuck]

8. How so, lumpy?

??

[lumpy]

9. The Nazi's used fear of the Jews

taking over the economic power of the state for one. Obviously, Bushco has used fear of Mid-Eastern and Asian nations attacking the US to further their corrupt diplomatic agenda and to retain and advance US military power. I would consider the distrust, suspician, and halting of civil rights of middle-eastern ethnic groups in this country a weapon of fear against citizens of the US.
Sorry to be slow in responding to your query, Kentuck.

[kentuck]

10. Not as slow as I

:)

[JHB]

7. I think it's more of a "Dread Factor"...

I admit I'm quibbling, but I also think it's something that needs to be clarified when talking about this:

When the term "fear" is bandied about, to me it conjurs up an image of people cringing in their basements, like those few people who actually gave their houses the full "plastic & duct tap" treatment.
Obviously we're not at that stage; nobody'd be able to go about their business in anything approaching a mostly-usual manner.

What people DO have is a quieter, deeper-down fear -- a dread -- of those catastrophes or worse happening again. And it's that dread that gets people to hold their tounge and/or fall for the "he's the President; he must know things we don't" rationale.

Like I said, a quibble, but when the Wingers try to spin it as "what fear? How many people are hiding in their basements?" (as has already been done), use it to burn down their strawman.

[KoKo]

13. JHB, I think McDermott was talking about "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

It seems everyone but the Pundits are living under PTSD. I know that I've never been the same since Bush was "Selected." The stress of 9/11 was muted for me..because I always felt Bush caused it......so my stress has had more to do with what the Bushista's have done to the country. 9/11 for me was just one more terrible crime perpetrated by these squatters.

But, I agree with McDermott. I think most of us here on DU have been healthy in that we let the stuff out in a positive and constructive way. Even the Freeps are taking it out....but in a destructive way....but letting it out.

The rest of America I think is in denial. And, maybe that's a way to deal with it.....but at some point it's going to break....when those folks come out of their "denial stupor." Then.....I think the Repugs better be very afraid.

[Aries]

11. Another manifestation of the "Culture of Fear"

Our "leaders" long ago learned to motivate the masses through fear, and their methods have only gotten more sophisticated, as described in this book, used by Michael Moore as a source in making Bowling for Columbine:



The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things
Barry Glassner

From the Publisher

"In this eye-opening examination of a pathology that has swept the country, the noted sociologist Barry Glassner reveals why Americans are burdened with overblown fears. He exposes the people and organizations that manipulate our perceptions and profit from our anxieties: politicians who win elections by heightening concerns about crime and drug use even as both are declining; advocacy groups that raise money by exaggerating the prevalence of particular diseases; TV newsmagazines that monger a new scare every week to garner ratings..."

[KoKo]

12. Did you notice Buzz's mention that he's a Psychiatrist? I was interested

to hear that because I heard a reference on a "Pundit Show" one day that he was a Doctor. But, never saw anything else about it.

So, if he's a psychiatrist I would say he knows what he's talking about when he says Fear Factor!