“Fear, like hope, can be very motivating and is not inherently bad. The challenge is to identify when fear is being used deceptively.” – Delores Albarracin, PhD, Professor of psychology, business, and medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign***
In my March 25, 2022 post, Why Being Colorblind is Bad for Inclusion, I referenced questions by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, that were designed to challenge the pending confirmation of the first Black woman, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. Cruz was later, criticized by American viewers, the media, members of Congress and others who support Judge Jackson’s nomination. His allegations were disconcerting; not because it was, again, a battle of the political parties, but because of the inability of these parties to work together for the benefit of the entire country and because of the fear tactics that were clearly being used to unnerve the American viewers with the potential threat to their safety and security if someone who supports racial equality and change and has brown skin, ends up on the Supreme Court.
Some might say, “That’s a blatant disregard for their political diligence! They were simply looking out for the good of our country.” My answer to those who might say that, is that it is not necessary to “play to the crowd,” knowing that this woman is beyond qualified for the position. Since they were unable to cast a blemish on her professional record, they resorted to scare tactics… racial scare tactics. That’s why I take issue with these antics. As I watched, it was clear to me that they were digging their heals in on diversity, inclusion and racial justice. Senator Cruz was not alone. Most if not all of the Republicans present at the hearings shared similar sentiments and made comparable attacks, using Critical Race Theory and other race based ideologies and misinterpretations in an attempt to discredit Judge Jackson.
Yielding the Weapon of Fear
Against the backdrop of everything this nation faced over the last two years if not the last 200 years, in the fight for equality and justice for all, they chose a powerful moment in American history to once again raise the barrier of fear and wage an attack against progress and justice. They were doing what has been done for centuries in our country, which is to use fear tactics to frighten White Americans by insinuating their lives, their children’s education and their well-being is in danger if we allow this woman… who’s Black… to sit on the Supreme Court. They would deny this I’m sure, saying it had nothing to do with her race, gender or other aspect of identity. But this would be hard to prove to any person of color due to the use of social justice tools and markers to energize their accusations. Sigh… when does it end?
Definition of Fearmongering
Fear tactics or fearmongering, is the intentional use of fear in advertising or speech to get the hearers or readers to adopt the originator’s point of view or take a specific action, like purchase a product or vote for a particular political candidate. It is a form of manipulation and can become dangerous when manipulating for individual or financial gain. This form of manipulation often uses exaggerations or actual lies to persuade or dissuade people’s opinions. It uses graphic images and statements and aims to convince the target that if they do not act in accordance with the originator’s objective, something terrible will happen.
Fearmongering has seen an increase in use in recent years. It seems to be the order of the day for political campaigns. It baffles me that people who vote for the candidates that use such tactics don’t see through the dishonesty. We’ve seen it used in political campaigns, drug prevention campaigns, stop smoking health promotions, attempts to stop workers from exercising their rights for collective bargaining, impacting gun laws and in contesting race and gender inclusion. It is even used in the work environment when conditions are unstable and workers become fearful of job loss.
We Deal with Fear Differently
People deal with fear differently.
Denial
Those who are in denial are likely to function fairly well in the midst of fear but may run the risk of not taking appropriate, timely action because of it.
Worry
Worriers are likely to become overly concerned, distracted and even depressed. Contrary to these realities, some people will actually come out better than their fearful counterparts.
Optimism
Some of us may actually be able to utilize the fear and find motivation to conquer or overcome it. The fear tactics might prompt us to seek out the facts, improve our own knowledge and performance, and get our priorities straight as we aim to master our environments.
How Our Brains Function in Fear
When we are in fear our brains become overwhelmed and we tend to find it difficult to concentrate. Fear actually attacks our brains and causes the amygdala, the emotional seat of the brain to seize our executive functioning which make it difficult for us to manage our social skills, prioritizing, working memory, self-control and mental flexibility. We therefore find it difficult to think through new and inventive ways of doing things. Fear can be detrimental to a work environment, especially at times of stress… the very time creativity and ingenuity are needed most.
Children’s brains are still in the development process so their perception and reaction to messaging is different than that of adults. They typically live “in the moment;” regardless of the situation and they’ll make decisions based on what they’re feeling at the moment. They are not yet at the point of making adult-like decisions with sound reasoning. Again, this is governed by the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which in addition to emotion or critical thinking/reasoning part of the brain is the last portion to develop. Brain development isn’t complete until late 20s causing teens to make many decisions in the limbic part of the brain, the deepest part of the amygdala, where emotions are king. For this reason researchers have concluded that fear tactics are not effective on children or teens and thus a pointless method of persuasion.
Best Ways to Use Fear to Inspire Change
1. Consider the Source
Unfortunately, everyone is not honest, so we cannot assume that what comes out of their mouths is truth. When we are faced with fear infused jargon from those deemed to be in authority, we must evaluate the content of what we have heard. We also have to consider the track record of the person who delivered the information. If we’re listening to a gossip, we should alter our tendency to lean in and accept the information being shared without verification. The same holds true of individuals whom we know to be liars. If they lied before, why would we assume they have suddenly taken the high road. In this day and age, we have become exceedingly lax in holding others accountable for integrity. Consider the source!
2. Seek the Truth
There’s an old adage that says, “Trust no one.” When we are in receipt of a barrage of fake information and fear induced content, our best bet is to seek additional information from the opposing viewpoint or from neutral parties. Again, everyone is not honest.
A study conducted by Timothy Levine PhD, of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Alabama, along with co-authors Kim B. Serota of Rochester University in Michigan and Tony Docan-Morgan of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, authored a study “Unpacking variation in lie prevalence: Prolific liars, bad lie days, or both?” It was published in Communication Monographs, the journal of the National Communication Association.
Their study tracked people’s dishonesty every day over three months. More than 630 participants were asked to keep a daily deception journal, documenting 116,336 lies.
The study results showed about three-quarters of the study participants were consistently honest, telling between zero and two lies per day. On the contrary, about 6 percent averaged more than six lies per day and accounted for a sizable proportion of the lies.
The good news is that this is in contrast to past research that found that most people lie on average, once or twice a day.
Since we don’t always know who’s who, it behooves us to do our homework and seek the truth on the matter. No rocket science, just seek the truth!
3. Pursue the Opportunities
The Chinese word for crisis is a combination of two words, danger and opportunity. When faced with fear and fear tactics, reflect on the reality that what is being presented as fearful is also an opportunity. In doing this, we can look past the false evidence and see what lies beyond it. If what was presented is true, what’s the opportunity we have to correct it and prevent disaster? If what was presented is false, there is still an opportunity to be gained by rejecting the false information and confronting the originator of it, head on. Opportunity seeking may be counter productive to what they are trying to do but it motivates us and inspires others to make changes. It might be as simple as not voting for them or showing others that the fear tactics should be ignored. Pursue the opportunities!
4. Indulge in Self Care
It may sound a bit out of step with the rest of this post, but it’s major. It is important that we take care of ourselves. With so much negativity and lies being hurled at us in the media, in the workplace and everywhere else, it can become overwhelming.
In the February 11, 2022 post, Three Life Changing Lessons We Can Learn from Negativity, we learned that “According to Psychology Today, pessimism is associated with anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, hostility, high blood pressure, and heart disease. It affects us mentally and physically. Anxiety, for example, is a mental and physical state of negative expectation but it is ultimately meant to capture our attention and stimulate us to make whatever changes are necessary to protect what we care about.”
Whether we are talking about pessimism, lies, fearmongering or other negativity, it all tends to weigh on us. Just think of past years in politics compared to others. You might remember tumultuous allegations, revelations and lies. When every day is a circus, even for a short period of time, self-care is a necessity. That self-care might be a 30 minute walk, a night out with friends, settling in for a good movie at home to take your mind off of things, focused prayer or reading a good blog post (LOL). Whatever you choose, choose wisely and indulge often. Indulge in self-care.
Closing Thoughts
It’s simple advice, consider the source, seek the truth, pursue the opportunities and indulge in self-care. Maybe if those who engage in fear tactics engaged in these four strategies they might not be so inclined to want to scare everyone into submission. Fear is driven by fear. By that I mean, people who are full of fear, choose to cause others to operate in fear. Confident, competent people don’t need this tactic. Keep that in mind!