Fear Itself
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 23 November 2010 20:13
- Written by Lucas Ives
"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself." This is perhaps President Franklin Roosevelt's most famous quote, and it is a powerful message. It is a message we have forgotten. America has been playing into the hands of fear, blinded by it, and we have made some of our most important decisions based solely on fear itself.
When President Roosevelt spoke these words, Nazi Germany was growing in power with aspirations to dominate the world. In just a few years, America would be called to action, yet Roosevelt knew that allowing fear to dominate our choices would only make matters worse. Fear was (and is) the weapon of the enemy.
Adolph Hitler used fear to gain power. Through his vigorous and passionate speeches, he convinced the people of Germany to fear the Jews. His message: Jews are taking over our country. Jews are the cause of our economic problems. They are the cause of our social problems. They are overrunning our country with their Jewish beliefs, their Jewish ideas and their Jewish law. Fear the Jews and their agenda. Hitler convinced an entire country to follow him by using fear itself.
In the past, I wondered how an entire country could buy into such an unreasonable belief. How could all these people follow such an obviously evil man with such a twisted message? Then, I turned on the television.
Over the past two years, Conservative extremists have fanned the flames of fear, using people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh as their mouthpiece. With vigor, passion and unbridled emotion, they have preached to us that Liberals are taking over our country. Liberals are the cause of our economic problems. They are the cause of our social problems. They are overrunning our country with their Liberal beliefs, their Liberal ideas and their Liberal laws. Fear the Liberals. Fear the Liberal agenda.
In Nazi Germany, people drew caricatures of Jews, depicting them as money-hungry or as devils. Today, in America, people carry posters depicting the President of the United States as a savage headhunter, or even as Hitler. Today, as in Germany several decades ago, extremists are using fear itself to sway popular opinion. And today, just like in Germany back then, the extreme is becoming more mainstream.
Fear itself is spreading. It is no longer limited to talk-show hosts or political commentators. It is not isolated on a few signs carried by protestors at a rally. Just a couple of weeks ago, Americans elected an overwhelming number of extremists to the United States Congress.
Times are hard and it seems like it is just easier to blame our troubles on someone else, be it the Jews or Liberals, Muslims or Gays. We would rather believe the loud mouths and blame others than reflect on our own choices (should I have really gotten that sub-prime loan or bought that gas-guzzler?), or accept the fact that sometimes life just gets tough.
We must remember President Roosevelt's message. Stop listening to those who have something to gain (like ratings or votes), by promoting fear itself. Don't make decisions or cast your vote based on fear. Finally, we must realize that it is not any particular group of people we should be afraid of; it's fear itself, and what it makes us do.
