“Paranoia strikes deep. Into your life it will creep. It starts when you’re always afraid. Step out of line the man come and take you away.” — Stephen Stills
One cannot escape the dread that comes with daily living these days. The conservative revolution traffics in fear. It is their most reliable currency. Fear enables them to do what they do. Fear is never rational. It never leads to positive outcomes. If something positive occurs it occurs independent of the fear.
A long-time friend posted an article on one of my favorite sites this week. While the article was obviously penned by a pseudonym, it was a tremendous act of courage. Real courage occurs when someone takes something very private and potentially life-altering and puts themselves out there. Obviously, the resulting actions from the governor have created very real fear.
Perhaps most people on the right hand side of spectrum couldn’t care less about what someone like me has to say. However, I am a bit of a unicorn. My college roommate (and best man at my wedding) asked me point blank one day. How could I not be conservative? I have always been deeply religious and have served as a religious education teacher for over 20 years. How could someone like me be progressive?
So, as someone that fits that profile I can endeavor to answer. In short, if your policies and your behavior make people scared then you are probably doing it wrong. Sure, there are real criminals out there doing really horrible things and I have no problem with law enforcement making them afraid. That is not what this is about. This is about people merely existing and being who they want to be.
If your policies, statements, or behavior makes them afraid then you are doing it wrong. We could back this up with as much holy scripture as one wants to, but it’s basic common sense. Whether one’s behavior is right or wrong doesn’t particularly matter in this regard. If we are to reach people you reach them through love and unconditional positive regard. You reach them through understanding. You reach them in a non-judgmental way.
Fear serves two definite purposes. It forces people to abandon the rational processes in their brain. It shuts down rational thought. It allows me to believe things that I wouldn’t normally believe. I could believe that there is an intruder outside ready to kill me and my family. I could believe there is no other way around that than to arm myself to the teeth. I could believe there are thousands if not millions of drug pushers south of the border ready to come over and salt the earth with their drugs and their terror. None of those things are real, but fear makes them real and more real than anything we actually do encounter on a daily basis.
The second purpose of fear is more for those that can’t abandon the rational portion of their brain. They can’t bring themselves to fear immigrants. They can’t bring themselves to fear the transgender community. They can’t bring themselves to fear people of color. So, instead they fear power itself. It causes idiots to make statements like this.
Such utterances are either the utterances of an utter moron or they are calculated statements meant to put rational and decent people into a state of fear. Most decent people don’t act crazy when they are afraid. They just freeze. Eventually, when you talk revolution long enough you get the intended effect. You don’t stop to ask what exactly they want in a revolution. You just freeze.
So, if a politician is actively doing something or saying something that makes you afraid then you can certainly bet that they are someone to watch. That fear is either meant to manipulate you or get you to freeze so they can do the maleficence they want to do in cover of terror. At the end of the day, the difference between a suicide bomber and a high school dropout in Congress is merely tactical. The aims are the same and it is the means that make any end the product of poisonous fruit.
halloffameindex 