Fear as a Weapon in Politics

Subtitle:- Imaginary Hobgoblins’

by Rupert Pye

Politicians seem to have been well aware of playing “state of mind” tricks on people.

H L Mencken (1880 – 1956) an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic and scholar of American English in the same decades as Carl Jung, wrote “The 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, all of them imaginary.”

H L Mencken

The outdoors in New Zealand is not immune. Spin doctors in departments weave a delusional fear about wild animals using emotive words like “invasive”, “hordes”, “devastation” and portraying predators as hobgoblins. 

Here’s a sentence plucked from a press release:- “Introduced wild animals are a major ecological threat in New Zealand, devastating native biodiversity by preying on endangered species and destroying habitats.”

Analysing it, “introduced” conjures up ideas of invaders, foreigners and/or aliens. “Ecological threat” is one of devastation apart from being a convenient untruth. “Devastating” is an image of obliteration, “preying” is painted to be evil.

In fact predators and prey are normal world wide. Ever watched David Attenborough programmes on TV?

Cheetahs running down antelope, Orcas grabbing seals and gulls snatching nesting chicks.

In New Zealand native falcon prey on native tui and bellbirds,  native kiwi prey on native worms, native bush robins prey on native insects, native kingfish prey on native kahawai and native kingfishers prey on native galaxies (whitebait) and so on.

In the US Dr. Robert Malone, a scientist is a vocal sceptic of the COVID-19 vaccines.

It should be noted other psychology experts dismiss the concept described by Malone. 

Nevertheless Dr. Malone cast doubt on COVID-19 vaccine safety and claimed the mass psychosis has resulted in a “third of the population basically being hypnotised” into believing what Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, and mainstream media say.

Hitler’s Power

Dr. Malone even went on to say that the phenomenon explained Nazi Germany and Hitler’s extraordinary power over the masses.

“When you have a society that has - free-floating anxiety in a sense that things don’t make sense, - their attention gets focused by a leader or a series of events on one small point, just like hypnosis, they literally become hypnotised and can be led anywhere,” Dr. Malone claimed.

But Dr Malone is not alone in his analysis.

In February 2021, two Spanish scientists Philipp Bagus and Antonio Sánchez-Bayón and  Chilean scientist José Antonio Peña-Ramos wrote in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health on “a political economy of mass hysteria.” 

Using the background of COVID-19, the trio studied past mass hysteria and concluded “negative information which is spread through mass media repetitively can affect public health negatively in the form of nocebo effects and mass hysteria.”

“The resulting collective hysteria may have contributed to policy errors by governments, not in line with health recommendations.” The three scientists said mass hysteria can become widespread and entrenched “when the negative information comes from an authoritative source, when the media are politicised and social networks make the negative information omnipresent.”

Which brings the discussion to New Zealand where the media were politicised by the $55 million” government handout with conditions for acceptance laid down. 

Huge Health Costs

Generating mass hysteria results in huge public health costs in terms of psychological stress, anxiety, and even physical symptoms. 

Is it coincidence that the aftermath of covid has resulted in the current sagging health services?

Will anyone admit that making people suffer a constant burden of fear and anxiety about almost everything is likely to confuse, disorient and damage people’s minds?

Arguably the spate of shootings is related far more to the mental health of society than firearm ownership.

Frustratingly the people who promote this constant fear and anxiety will definitely not accept any responsibility or change what they have been doing for so long. After all Mencken’s summation in the 1920s, of politicians playing the “fear card strongly suggests for over 100 years – perhaps much, much longer – politicians have employed the anxiety card of fear to gain power of the hypnotised masses.

The two Spanish scientists Philipp Bagus and Antonio Sánchez-Bayón and Chilean scientist José Antonio Peña-Ramos in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,  (February 202 wrote that mass hysteria is nothing new.

“The empirical evidence of mass hysteria, i.e., collective anxiety due to a perceived threat, dates back at least to the Middle Ages.”

Nocebo Effect

Recall H L Mencken description of “imaginary hobgoblins” conceived by politicians.

It is well known in medical circles of the power of the mind in recovery. Two terms are used, i.e. “placebo and “nocebo”. With the placebo effect, a person recovers from an illness because they expect to recover. When a person suffers from a nocebo effect, on the contrary, they get ill just because they expect to become ill.

“In this way, a mass hysteria may develop when people believe they will become ill. Anxiety and fear contribute to this process. Indeed, during the Spanish flu in the wake of World War I, panic contributed to a mass hysteria and deaths that otherwise would not have occurred, because panic can have adverse health effects on ill persons. Once some people develop a hysteria, it can easily spread to other people because fear and anxiety are contagious.” 

A Qualified NZ Viewpoint

The final word from a retired New Zealand doctor.

“There has also been a trend toward more apocalyptic thinking about climate change and other  “end of the world” possibilities.

“The increase in restrictive Health and Safety legislation also suggests that people in central government, media and the public have become increasingly preoccupied with fear and that this is detrimental to rational thinking and mental health in general.

The fear factor can be played in any sphere by politicians and bureaucrats, whether it be wild animals, firearm ownership, poison programmes and others.

Just be aware.