Selling Fear

The Faces of Diversity are not the Faces of Fear

Howdy Friends and Neighbors.  The Reverend Squeaky-Eye here, coming at you from the fine nation of Austria.  I hope all of you Brothers and Sisters out there are prospering and dispensing kindness to one another.

Today I want to talk to you about something that is troubling me, troubling me mightily.  That something is the practice of selling fear.  Why anyone would knowingly sell fear to the good population of our planet is a mystery, but it is something that is happening as surely as toast falling butter-side down.  The thing is, if we take a closer look at the wily mechanics of the Downpressor Man, we can see that it is not so much of a mystery after all.

If we study history, we can see that those who aspire to authoritative rule over a people or nation tend to employ similar tools to achieve their nefarious ends.  One of the primary tools that these Downpressors use is that of trying to make one segment of the people fear another segment of the population.  The example that springs to mind, of course, is that of Hitler preaching a doctrine of fear about our Jewish Sisters and Brothers.  We all know the horror that resulted from his doctrines.  That is a heinous example, true enough, but it is not the only example.  These sorts of people, the people that have a desire to rule rather than govern, they know that one way to achieve a state of control is to cause a division amongst the people.  One effective way to divide the people is to sell them the doctrine of fear.  

Now the Downpressor, he is going to sell fear based on any number of things.  He may tell the good people the idea that folks of a certain race are to be feared.  He may tell the good people the idea that anyone of a certain religion is to be feared.  The Downpressor, he looks around and tries to find a place to drive a wedge, a wedge to divide the people.  A people divided are an easier group to bamboozle.  Those that would seek to hold us down, they're playing a shell game.  They want to create a diversion, a trick, a sleight of hand.  The aim of selling fear is to distract attention from the real shenanigans that the Downpressor wants to foist off on the people.  Don't be fooled Sisters!  Don't be fooled Brothers!

Brethren, I am here to tell you that fear is a powerful tool.  Fearful folks will do things that no right-minded citizen would ever contemplate.  When we give in to the pull of fear, we can find ourselves justifying actions that we would normally abhor.  Again, we do not need to look too far back into history to find examples of what fear-based thinking can do.  In the 1940's, Japanese-Americans were interned in ten camps across the western United States.  About 62% of the folks interned were citizens of the United States.  It was, and remains, a travesty of justice.  Fear in action, that's what it was, pure and simple.

The Downpressor Man, he's not really selling.  What he is actually doing is buying.  First off, the Downpressor, he's going to paint a picture for you, a picture of a bogey-man that purports to threaten us, our family, or some segment of our way of life.  Once he gets that hook of fear set into us, set in deep, he's going to offer a solution to the fear that he created in the first place.  That's where the selling comes in, the trick, the three card monte.  The Downpressor, he is going to offer up security, a false security, as a snake-oil cure for the whatever fear he's selling.  But like we said, Sisters and Brothers, he ain't selling.  He's buying.  And what he is buying is our complicity in his shell game.

Now it is true that we are all citizens of our respective nations, but we are also citizens of this lovely planet Earth.  Through the phenomena of social media and globalization, we are more closely linked to every other human being on the planet than at any other time in history.  This trend is only going to continue.  I am privileged and blessed to have traveled to many fine nations in this world.  I have met many fine folks who inhabit those nations.  What I have discovered during the course of my travels is not how different folks are, but how much the same we all are.  Most of us want pretty much the same things.  We want enough food for ourselves and our families, we want adequate shelter, and we want our children to have a better life.  I have yet to meet anyone who wants to be afraid.  So how do we push back against the fear that the Downpressor Man is selling?

When someone comes to us preaching a doctrine of fear, I believe we have to ask ourselves "What is he selling?"  If some Downpressor tells us, for example, that 23% of the fine folks on this planet are bad people, what is he really after?  I think that he is looking for a place to drive that wedge, make us afraid, and make us complicit in his grab for power.  When I hear a man selling fear, instead of solutions, I see a man trying to pull the wool over our eyes.  If we are to believe this hate-mongering, then we would have to fear one out of every four of our neighbors.  No, Friends and Neighbors, No!

Show me a man preaching fear, and I will show you a snake-oil salesman, a trickster, and a Downpressor.  It makes no never-mind whether he is blaming this group or that group, this race or that race, this religion or that religion.  If someone is selling us fear, fear of our neighbors, I believe it is incumbent on each and every one of us to ask ourselves why.  Why should we be afraid?  When has fear of the "Other" ever benefited a society?  The answer, of course, is simple:  Never.