The big flap in the news now is the disclosure of the Republican National Committee's plan to oust the Prez by utilizing the fear factor among the conservative base. Invoking images of the "Evil Empire" or portraying Mr. Obama as Batman's archenemy The Joker is surely to scare the shit out of people and when you add to that the plain simple truth that the country is drifting towards socialism, well, heck, you got yourself people lining up at the polling stations a month before the election.
Fear is one of those primal emotions that has been with us for thousands of years. It serves an adaptive function to insure the human race will continue to exist. Seeing a saber tooth tiger drooling while he is looking at you in the open field will motivate you to run like hell so that you don't end up in his, or her, stomach. In other words fear motivates us to behave (run) in order to maintain safety and security. And tomorrow there shall be another day to make more babies.
The dark side of all this is when fear is used to manipulate others. Skilled propagandists know this well. If all else fails, make people afraid. Utilize stereotypes, lies, overgeneralizations, or prejudices to stimulate our primal nature. It is no different than telling an unhappily celibate man that in the bar around the corner there are two beautiful women waiting to have no strings attached sex with him. You'll have his heart racing in under ten seconds. Maybe five.
Lest you think though that the RNC is the real villain here, on the other side the same tactic has been employed successfully by democrats to demonize the previous man-in-charge-at-the-white-house. You see it is not about the real issue, whether it is healthcare reform, global warming or what have you, it is about having power. Power is absolutely seductive and to have more of it is intoxicating. So much so, that bending the truth, making a lie seem real is easily ignored and minimized as long as you have the final goal within reach.
What is sad about all this though, is that there are plenty of Americans who will believe and stand ready to be duped.
