FEAR, as a talking point.

First off I want to point out my personal signature, “Do not be afraid of my appearance, be afraid of what I bring. “

At the obvious risk of being declared a hypocrite, I am going to remove this from my signature in all future posts, because it represents something I no longer find funny. When I first typed that in during the creation of my account here, all I was thinking was “Haha, yeah, right, boogie man, spooky, Boo!”. It was a joke, or at least that’s how I looked at it.

Now, I can no longer, in all good conscience, use that to represent my view or my attitude, even jokingly, because it has come to my attention that some people take that way too seriously. Not only in maybe misinterpreting what I think or do, but in how they conduct themselves in exchanges.

Fear, as a talking point, is much like hate as a talking point, but unlike hate, fear is not really so debatable or murky as to when it is right or wrong. To me, it is simply wrong to use fear as a way to enforce or promote one’s beliefs or agendas, regardless of what the topic is.
Why is it wrong? How do I make such a conclusion? Here’s how I see it.

Who uses fear to invoke desired actions from other people?
Bullies, use fear. “Give me you milk money!!”, “Kiss my shoes!”, they use their larger size or maybe group as a method to intimidate others into doing what they want.

Thugs, criminals, gangsters, all use fear as their talking point to get something, whether it’s money or respect, they try to gain it by scaring someone into giving it up.

Terrorists, merely a slightly elevated example of the above, but their title says it all! They use fear to influence political and social situations. They cannot or simply will not accept anything other than their own views and ideals, and they try to enforce those views by threatening to kill or “destroy” whatever target they deem stands in their way.

Dictators. The highest form of fear mongers, people who have achieved their position in life through violence and death, and hold onto that position through fear of the threat of death or worse! Fear is their primary weapon, just like all the others types, they cannot achieve anything without the use of fear.

To put it simply, people who use fear as a tool are bad people. There is nothing good about them. I loath to use the term “evil”, as it implies that there is something supernatural involved in it, and I do not believe that, but I do believe the use of fear as a tool is an example of evil human behavior.

With that being said, who has exemplified the use of “fear” in our own government as a taking point? The Republicans have a pretty good history of using fear “indirectly” as a tool to push through their agendas, and it works almost every time. G.W. Bush used the “fear” of terrorist attacks to push us into a war with Iraq, his Republican buddies used fear of economic catastrophe as reason to give billions of tax payers dollars to big banks without accountability, but these examples have always been “indirect” methods, not really threatening us directly. "Do it our way or else!"

That all changed when the Tea Party got a few seats in the House. First, the Republican party seems to have been bullied by a minority of people into altering their entire way of conducting political practices, and then the Republican party has started using it’s slight majority in 1 of 3 congress systems to threaten the economy and the legislation process directly.

Now maybe some people can justify or interpret that in different ways, but one thing they cannot dispute is the members of the Tea Party often openly declare the “The left/liberals are afraid of us!”, “They fear us!”, “You are afraid of us!”. This is a talking point for them. I have heard it in countless interview by their leaders! They say this with pride and glee, clearly embracing such an attitude as acceptable. To them, it’s OK to force a majority of people to do what a minority wants, even if it means using “fear” to accomplish it.

So what has all this got to do with me and this forum? Well I recently got into a spat with another board member and I may have overstepped the line in my own language at addressing his/her remarks. The individual in question proudly declared “We will destroy the (a specific government agency).” (By “We” I assume possibly the Republican party in general, but more likely the Tea Party in specific.)
To which I responded
“Spoken like a true radical terrorist!”

Maybe that was not the best choice of words on my part, but this same individual also took the time to include that “You are afraid of us!” augment again.

Fear is a natural reaction to anything dangerous, so I think in truth most people are afraid of people who talk dangerous, because we do not know how far they are really going to go. Is it just a bluff? Or are they planning to do something more drastic? Who knows?
What is clear is if you have to use fear to make your point, either it’s in conversation or politics, you are in the same category as the other “bad” people I listed here today, and there is something seriously wrong with your agenda if you have to use fear to propagate & peddle it.

I did not directly call anyone here a terrorist, I just pointed out that was how it sounded. If people like that continue to use such tactics & language as a way to express them selves, how are we supposed to know if they are potentially dangerous or not? That is why I am removing my signature, because in this kind of political climate, I don’t want anyone thinking that is how I think or behave. I refuse to let anyone intimidate me with “fear”, and I suggest everyone do the same.

Thank you.