Fear is an instrument of social control and repression.
Time and again, terrified people bow to the will of their ruling authorities even when harming their own rights and well-being.
The philosopher Seneca once said that: “(t)here are more things…likely to frighten us than there are to crush us. We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
Edmund Burke explained that: “(n)o passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.”
According to HL Mencken: “(t)he whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
America’s second president John Adams said: “(f)ear is the foundation of most governments.”
The 9/11 mother of all state-sponsored false flags was a powerful example of how an entire population was manipulated to believe barbarians at our gates threaten everyone — the mother of all Big Lies ignored at the time.
False flag mass deception gets people to willingly go along with what otherwise would be considered unacceptable.
Ruling authorities take full advantage — especially because establishment media feature the official narrative ad nauseam.
Fear-mongering reports drown out alternative views.
Nazi Germany’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels noted that
“(i)t would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle.” “They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas in disguise.”
Herman Goering reportedly said:
“Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.” “Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.”
Orwell understood the power of mass deception.
“Political language…is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind,” he once said.
In his book The Prince, Machievelli said
“(s)ince love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.” “(F)ear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never fails.”
Machiavelli believed that leaders must be deceptive and cunning to maintain control, that ends justify the means.
He argued that leaders unable to force their will on subjects can never be successful.
He inverted the Golden Rule, saying
“do evil unto others as they would do evil unto you.”
He also believed that rulers should distance themselves from state-sponsored criminality – shifting blame for their wrongdoing onto others.
Influenced by Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes in his book Leviathan favored authoritarian leadership for control because the “danger of violent death, and the life of man (is) solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
The power of mind-manipulating propaganda has entire populations believing that COVID-19 may infect and harm almost everyone.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll found that around 90% of Americans are hunkering down at home as much as possible — fearful of COVID-19 contagion.
About 60% of US households stockpiled food and essential supplies. Three-fourths of respondents said COVID-19 disrupted their lives, about 70% citing the virus as a source of stress.
Over half of respondents believe they’re at risk of infection, about 70% believing an immediate family member could become ill from COVID-19.
The poll was conducted from March 22 – 25. As infections in the US increase — combined with official and media fear-mongering — these numbers are likely to grow.
On national television March 29, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci scared Americans to death, saying:
The US could have “millions of (COVID-19) cases.”
“(L)ooking at what we’re seeing now..I would say (there could be) between 100 and 200,000 (deaths).”
Trump extended nationwide social distancing guidelines through April 30 — after earlier wanting normal activities resumed by Easter, April 12.
No one knows the severity or duration of COVID-19 outbreaks. For most people, infections cause short-term illness that enables the body to build up antibodies against its reoccurrence.
The elderly, people with weakened immune systems, and others with significant pre-existing health issues are most vulnerable to something more serious.
Here’s what some experts are saying:
Microbiologist Sucharit Bhakdi:
“The life expectancy of millions is being shortened” by anti-COVID-19 measures.
“The horrifying impact on the world economy threatens the existence of countless people.”
“The consequences on medical care are profound. Already services to patients in need are reduced, operations cancelled, practices empty, hospital personnel dwindling. All this will impact profoundly on our whole society.”
Pulmonologist Wolfgang Wodarg:
“(W)hat is missing right now is a rational way of looking at things.”
“We should be asking: How did you find out this virus was dangerous?”
“How was it before? Didn’t we have the same thing last year? Is it even something new? That’s missing.”
Community Health Sciences and Surgery Professor Joel Kettner:
“I have never seen anything like this, anything anywhere near like this. I’m not talking about the pandemic because I’ve seen 30 of them, one every year. It is called influenza.”
“(T)he message to the public (is) about fear of coming into contact with (other) people…I worry about many, many consequences related to that.”
Former Israeli health ministry director general Yoram Lass:
“In every country, (many thousands of) die from regular flu (annually) compared with those who die from the coronavirus.”
One example is “the swine flu in 2009. (I)t reached the world…and until today there is no vaccination against it.”
“At the time there was no Facebook. (COVID-19) is a virus (a) with public relations” campaign.
“Whoever thinks that governments end viruses is wrong.”
Infectious diseases specialist Pietro Vernazza:
“(A)round 85% of all infections have occurred without anyone noticing the infection.”
Around “90% of the deceased patients are verifiably over 70 years old, 50% over 80 years.”
Epidemiologist Hendrik Streeck:
“The new pathogen (COVID-19) is…less dangerous than Sars-1.”
Founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center David Katz:
“I am deeply concerned that the social, economic and public health consequences of this near-total meltdown of normal life — schools and businesses closed, gatherings banned — will be long-lasting and calamitous, possibly graver than the direct toll of the virus itself.”
“The stock market will bounce back in time, but many businesses never will.”
“The unemployment, impoverishment and despair likely to result will be public health scourges of the first order.”
University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy director Michael Osterholm:
“Consider the effect of shutting down offices, schools, transportation systems, restaurants, hotels, stores, theaters, concert halls, sporting events and other venues indefinitely and leaving all of their workers unemployed and on the public dole.”
“The likely result would be not just a depression but a complete economic breakdown, with countless permanently lost jobs, long before a vaccine is ready or natural immunity takes hold.”
Professor of Clinical Research Design and Analysis Peter Goetzsche:
“No such draconian measures were applied during the 2009 (Sars) influenza pandemic, and they obviously cannot be applied every winter, which is all year round, as it is always winter somewhere. We cannot close down the whole world permanently.”
Facilitated by a virtual daily drumbeat of fear-mongering, the US and other governments are instituting draconian policies with public consent.
What’s going on in the US is all about transferring countless trillions of dollars from ordinary people to privileged ones.
As during the 2008-09 financial crisis, it’s also about favored businesses consolidating to greater power and influence by acquiring failing enterprises at fire sale prices.
Most important, what’s going on is a slippery slope toward full-blown tyranny by compromising and eliminating human and civil rights on the phony pretext of protecting the general welfare.
Time and again we’re lied to by our ruling authorities — notably during manufactured crises like 9/11 and now.
A Final Comment
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Friday found that nearly one-fourth of US adults said they either were laid off or furloughed by their employers.
More of the same is likely coming to what extent will only be known in the fullness of time.
Over 80% of respondents support shelter in place and stay at home orders to keep COVID-19 from spreading, regardless of the economic impact.
The power of mind manipulation works as intended.
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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Featured image is from TruePublica
