Does GWBush use fear to control American people?

Question

Anyone have extra duct tape?


Fearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and hard-line postures. ... They may accept and even welcome repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities.
-George Gerbner

Answer 1

No, the media is doing that quite well.

Answer 2

No! The Democrat party along with the media does that better than anyone. Take a look at social security reform bill that G.W. introduced in 2001. The drive-by media and the Democrats said that G.W. was going to cut off the Social Security to the elderly. Which was a total lie. The truth was that 2% of what someone pays into Social Security would go into a private account for that person. The person had to be younger than thirty-five for this to be done. They said that Bush was going to dig in to the Social Security Lock Box to do this. Another lie Jimmy Carter done away with that box in the late 70's. Now all the Social Security goes into the General Fund where Congress dips into all the time. The truth of the matter is that that 2% would have been taken out of the hands of Congress. It would have been yours that would pay you more in intress than Social Security. You could pass it on to your offspring or anyone that you wanted to. The way that Social Security is set up now you can't do that unless they are under eighteen.

Answer 3

All the time! Look how terrified so many people on the Yahoo site are about the Iraq war ending early. "The terrorist will win! We will never be safe!" They get this panic from Papa Bush. If it wasn't the terrorists, it would be something else. No point living in fear.

For the second part of your response, Gerbner's quote is correct. The Partiot Act even makes buying a home more time-consuming. We have many citizens who have been manipulated by the current administration. Like herding cattle in a field..

Answer 4

Grim prognosis: The American people are being lead to a place they want to be. They like creating an enemy then trying to destroy it, or creating a crisis and expending all their energy trying to quell it. This is what neocons accuse Gore of. But in fact, it's all Bushco has ever had: their only power has come to them through the manipulative power of a propaganda machine based on stirring fear. -- Fear of "terrorists", and fear of progressive, forward-looking liberal thought of the kind that has pulled humanity this far out of the caves.

It's that progressive thought which is currently being fought tooth and nail by the right. They've struggled very hard to turn back the advances of the last 80 years over the last 25 years. (They've destroyed unions, for example, and isn't that a proud accomplishment? What we have to show for that is the death of decent working class American jobs. - - - Doubt it? Look around you at the decline - in the form of downsizing and consolidating - of large major retailers such as Sears, and the rise of Dollar stores and Dollar groceries. The American working class is in shambles, but you'd never hear that if you listen to neocon fairy tales.)

Make no mistake: Any unity this nation has known during the last 6.5 years has come directly out of angry military belligerance and fear-mongering from the right. Lots of cons here have the story backwards. They're part of that 28% we keep laughing at.

Answer 5

The Bush administration has benefited greatly from the tragedy of 9-11 and they do not wish to relinquish the gravy train. While ignoring the recommendations of the 9-11 commission, Bush and Cheney have used 9-11 to orchestrate an entire broad and sweeping national policy based upon fear.

This policy benefits only the Republican party, in that it strengthens their political hand, gives billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to their Department of Defense contractors and to Halliburton and keeps millions of American voters eating out of their hand in a perpetual state of fear and misguided patriotism.

The facts are this: A presidential election is drawing near and the American public is finally awakening to how ill-conceived this war really is. This means that in an effort to protect their interests, the Bush administration along with their media conglomerate, is banging their war drum all that much louder on fear and pseudo-patriotism. Sadly, untold millions will hear the drum and will blindly follow without question or conscience.

Answer 6

I agree completely that we are being 'led' through fear. So much of what Mr Bush and his minions say are based in fear. We have become a nation paralyzed. We are willing to easily hate countries, not through fact, but by possible intentions. When was the last time we sat back and put ourselves in 'their' shoes and wondered, discussed, solved WHY something was happening instead of "it's happening there - and better there than here." This simplistic mentality is fundamentally flawed.
The administration has fully bought into the people that wish to 'undo' the United States, for we are being terrorized from within.

boo

peace

Answer 7

No, the major media outlets and the Democrat party use fear to keep the American People blind, fat, dumb and happy. When you start questioning the media and the Democrats, that's when they launch personal attacks on you instead of giving you real answers. [example - Go to a Hilary town meeting sometime and ask her what she knows about Vince Foster, she will lie her butt off.]

Answer 8

that's all he's done is scare the American people. he knew before we ever stepped foot on the ground there were no WMD in Iraq. that's why as soon as he scared the people into supporting his desire to kill saddam, his story changed, and the focus became helping the Iraqi people. now he's doing the same thing with Iran. bush lies whe the truth would serve him better, a draft dodger and a deserter, completely unfit to be pres. he and the republican party are nothing more then greedy fear mongerers

Answer 9

I go along with George Gerbner

Answer 10

No, the media is doing it. Bush actually doesn't do anything that bad and does not pull all the strings we think he does.

Answer 11

I agree with your statement except that Bush is not smart enough to do this. It has to be his cronies like Cheney and Karl Rove that are orchestrating the fear-mongering that keep the people in check.