If people produce hatred and prejudice through fear wouldn't it be most logical to eliminate fear altogether?

Question

Remove fear by removing false propoganda and giving people a feeling of safety. What do you think?

Answer 1

Good question, but a tough one. I believe it has more to do with psychology than propaganda. The propaganda feeds into something that's already there. (It increases it, for sure, so there's kind of a chicken or egg thing, but that would take me too far off course...)
Western society, is, to me, the epitome of the insecure society. Look at how prevalent lawyers and insurance companies are. All based on the belief that if something bad happens to you, it's some kind of an anomaly. It's really ironic that the countries where people are most obsessed with safety are the countries in which people, are, in fact, the most safe. To me, the root is much deeper, with our basic refusal to accept our mortality.
I'm not saying safety is a bad thing, of course, just that our attitude towards it seems a bit neurotic.

Answer 2

You are making a bad assumption- hatred and prejudice are not produced by fear alone so removing fear will produce no results you or anyone else would find worth while. What it sounds to me as though you would like to do is to promote a false sense of security which would also produce poor, if not disastrous, results.

Hatred and prejudice are a culmination of many things, from personal experiences to rumors. The events that influence need not be real- all that is needed is an excuse.

If two people can read a sentence and get two separate and very different perceptions, what makes you feel removing fear and biased literature wont result in the same situation by another means?

There is more than one road to the wrong path.

Answer 3

But not everybody feels hatred or prejudice because of fear. What if you feel scared of something but do it anyway? What if you're scared but work through the fear? Fear isn't bad per se--it's just bad if you allow it to lead you to bad things.

You should learn *logic* to see the logical fallacies behind most propaganda--it'll blow your mind, dude! And why should people feel safe if they're not? Just cows heading to the bolt stunner. They're placid, calm, filled with inner peace...and it doesn't help them a bit. You need to stop the step between fear and hatred and prejudice. Fear isn't the issue. That's like saying, well, I have a hangnail and I don't want to feel the pain, so I'm going to cut off my finger and then I'll never have another hangnail again. You can't give up the benefits of fear to remove the bad reaction that some people have when they feel it.

Answer 4

I agree - eliminating fear altogether would be ideal, however...

Fear is a natural / animal instinct. It is part of our genetic make-up. It is part of what our minds use to protect ourselves from danger and harm. We cannot eliminate fear altogether or else we would be destroyed. Fear is neccessary to survival.

What we should learn is the difference between 'logical fear' and 'illogical fear'. We should learn to be much more discerning in where our sources of fear originate. By becoming more critically minded we might be able to reduce our 'illogical fears' by deciding that their origin is false.

The other angle on fear is that the reason propaganda promotes fear, is that, people who are afraid are much more easily led. When the masses fear an 'unknown' and dreaded enemy, the fear makes them dependant on those to whom they have entrusted their safety.

Just a thought

Answer 5

Fear also arises from the unknown.

And death is the greatest unknown. And since their is no proof of what exists, if anything, after death it is the source of the greatest fear.

The only people I have known who lacked fear - had faith of what lied ahead for them.

If you could eliminate any doubt then they could see that all the pain and suffering we endure now is just a temporary situation and then they could get past it and then they would loose their fear.

Until people have no fear of death then there will always be fear because others will intimadate them - threatening them with death.

Answer 6

Prejudice is a by-product of Ignorance. If you don't know the truth about others and believe the lies then you have fear, and fear breeds contempt and hatred. Its the same for superstition and propaganda (we MUST win the war on Terror). No, we have been fighting terrorism for a hundred years, to call it a war NOW is simply to incite fear.

Answer 7

That is the problem, that people have to depend on others to make them feel safe. Fear is only fear because minds believe in it. Fear is nothing unless given the power.



Peace. By the way, My son thinks this is an awsome question, way it's worded and all.

Answer 8

Fear is inherant, prejudice is learned. Beyond that FEAR has far more definitions than Prejudice, and is often subtle, where as prejudice is often blatant.

Rev. Steven

Answer 9

False propaganda removed....what about the real stuff going on all over the world? Not very realistic.

Answer 10

Fear is a natural instinct that keeps you from doing something that would not be good for your servival. I don't think you can or should get rid of it.