Fear is the mind-killer
“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.” -Dune by Frank Herbert
What ever happened to those fire and brimstone preachers bent on putting the fear of hell into their followers? Well, they still exist, but allow me to recognize one Johnathan Edwards who in 1741 delivered a sermon entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Some of it went a little like this:
So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.
You can find the whole sermon here.
It is very educational to study these kind of texts to identify and recognize different types of persuasion, propaganda, and brainwashing techniques being used. Most all literature from large organized religious institutions can be studied in this manner. You may even want to visit different religious organizations in person and tell them you feel lost and are looking for the right path, but you’re just not sure what that is. Make sure you bring a small digital recorder and hide it well so you can later transcribe the conversation and take some time to see what different techniques were being used on you. Religious recruiters are well trained, just like military recruiters. Yes, indeed!
In this particular post I am recognizing fear as the prime persuader and motivator. Fear is extremely effective.
So, let’s jump ahead two centuries later to Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler. In Hitler’s Reichstag speech of December 11, 1941, he declared war on the United States:
Since the beginning of the war [in September 1939], the American President Roosevelt has steadily committed ever more serious crimes against international law. Along with illegal attacks against ships and other property of German and Italian citizens, there have been threats and even arbitrary deprivations of personal freedom by internment and such. The increasingly hostile attacks by the American President Roosevelt have reached the point that he has ordered the American navy to immediately attack, fire upon and sink all German and Italian ships, in complete violation of international law. American officials have even boasted about destroying German submarines in this criminal manner. American cruisers have attacked and captured German and Italian merchant ships, and their peaceful crews were taken away to imprisonment In addition, President Roosevelt’s plan to attack Germany and Italy with military forces in Europe by 1943 at the latest was made public in the United States [by the Chicago Tribune and several other papers on 4 Dec. 1941], and the American government made no effort to deny it.
You can find the whole speech here. This particular translation is true to what was really said in Germany. The New York Times wrote their own version to instill fear into Americans as well.
Although Hitler doesn’t use Hell and he isn’t trying to convince his listeners to give up their lives to Jesus Christ, Johnathan Edwards and Adolf Hitler are both using fear while threatening consequences. This does a wonderful job of motivating and persuading people.
Let’s take a look at a more recent speech made by President George W. Bush on April 16, 2007:
Families gathered here understand that America is not going to be safe until the terrorist threat has been defeated. If we do not defeat the terrorists and extremists in Iraq, they won’t leave us alone — they will follow us to the United States of America. That’s what makes this battle in the war on terror so incredibly important. One of the lessons of September the 11th is what happens overseas matters to the security of the United States of America, and we must not forget that lesson.
The consequences of failure in Iraq would be death and destruction in the Middle East and here in America. To protect our citizens at home, we must defeat the terrorists. We defeat them by staying on the offense and we defeat them by helping young democracies defeat their ideology of hate. And it’s hard work. But it is necessary work, and thousands of men and women who wear our uniform understand the stakes.
The bold italics are my doing. You can find the whole speech here.
Again, this speech is using the exact same techniques of fear and consequence to motivate and persuade its audience. The speaker threatens their listeners with terrifying consequences if their prescribed actions are not met.
Study all three speeches in order to find their similarities. It doesn’t take much effort.
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