https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl Fear Instinct - What are some examples of how fearmongering has been used and how it has affected people? en-us 2020-11-01 21:24:53 UTC 2026-01-27 01:16:58 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f9d0.png jacob_miller_msu https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/880553879 Former President George W. Bush ran a fearmongering campaign in the United States throughout his 8 years in office. Most students in the US know this campaign to have included using the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center to try to convince the American people that a war against terrorism in Iraq was necessary, as Bush had been pushing for military force in Iraq prior to 9/11 but a majority of people were against this idea. Also, with fear of terrorism in the United States at an all-time high, he used this fear to enact the Patriot Act which allowed the federal government significantly more freedom in how they gather personal information on people in the US. In 2008, during Bush's second term in office, he tried to pass another bill that would have granted even more power to the federal government to gather personal information on Americans and he again used the 9/11 terrorist attacks to try to justify this, saying that the US at that time faced terrorist threats that would make 9/11 "pale by comparison". Ultimately, it can be seen numerous times throughout his presidency that he used 9/11 to increase people's fear of terrorism so that he could push for support of the war in Iraq and numerous other countries with "known terrorists", occupy foreign nations that could either provide resources or some sort of other advantage to the US, and increase the government's power over its people.

This article I included talks about a specific example of Bush's fearmongering as well as talking about his overall use of fearmongering.]]> 2020-11-01 22:07:59 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/880553879 floydmal https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/911098472 This article explains how the Nazi party used fear tactics in World War II. They used fear-mongering to throw off both those living in Germany and those outside of Germany. Hitler made public announcements stating that he wanted to resolve tensions peacefully. However, he was telling the military something very different. He wanted to make people believe he was willing to negotiate, while really he was planning an attack on Poland. He also spread false information about the Jewish population. He blamed them for the start of the war and created a fear towards them from the rest of the country. These false allegations created an awful stereotype for Jewish people, not only making them fear for their livelihood, but making other people fear them. ]]> 2020-11-11 00:55:27 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/911098472 alsvigla https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/928843721 Ever since he was elected in 2016, President Trump has become even more famous for his Social media following, especially Twitter. This is due to the fact that he started his saying that everything was "Fake News", and also because a lot of these tweets just don't make sense. Recently, with the election and all of the protesting, Trumps Twitter has taken a turn. If you scroll through this you can find that he uses his power and following to scare people into voting for him, by showing video clips, and retweets of violence from some of the extremists towards people.]]> 2020-11-16 19:15:16 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/928843721 alsvigla https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/937764534 This video from 2016 talks about how politicians have moved towards using fear as a main contributor in their campaigns. They give examples like LBJ and his claim that voting Barry Goldwater into office was going to cause a world wide nuclear holocaust. They also connect it back to the 2016 election, and how President Trumps approach was to make you fearful of the immigrants and muslims, and then tell you that he can fix that problem by building a wall. This all connects to a quote that the reporter says during the interview on behalf of candidates actions during an election, "I have to convince you that there is a problem, and that I am the answer". ]]> 2020-11-18 17:12:04 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/937764534 alsvigla https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/937903997 This article talks about Woodrow Wilson's propaganda during his presidency that took place during WWI. Wilson used his propaganda to make the people fearful of the Germans, as he was. He feared that if the German's won the war it the world would no longer be "safe for democracy", so he used the power he had, his propaganda, in order to instill fear in the American people.]]> 2020-11-18 17:36:59 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/937903997 alsvigla https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/938104053 While the Red Scare started around 1917 after the first World War, it really flared up in 1945 after WWII. President Truman and a lot of the Us government were scared of Communism uprooting all that America stood for, and the Russians approach to spread it in the US. J. Edgar Hoover was the longtime director of the FBI and often investigated communist activity. They thought that communism and the Russian were going to lead to another war, and nuclear warfare.]]> 2020-11-18 18:13:54 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/938104053 alsvigla https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/938318186  The media for the past decade has been focusing on the negative aspects of the news. A lot of the things that we see on our news channels are scary, and tend to make us feel like we don't want to leave the house. This article goes into how the news uses our psychology against us to make the fearful things we see on the news to be even more scary. In the article one of the main points that are made is " if it bleeds, it leads." That quote is said several times and the author's really try to show that the media really wants to show fear because people would rather watch a train wreck than a story about puppies.]]> 2020-11-18 18:54:06 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/938318186 jacob_miller_msu https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939242500 On October 9, 2006, North Korea conducted its first nuclear weapons test under their leader Kim Jong-Il. Some surrounding nations such as China were only informed of the test about 20 minutes prior to it happening. Such inconsideration for surrounding nations as well as the idea of a nation testing the working condition of their nuclear arms was clearly a sign to the rest of the world that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was making an indirect threat of nuclear war on any nation that might threaten them. Such nuclear tests as this increased the fear of nuclear war in the US due to the known dmaage that can occur from even a single unclear warhead and also due to the already existing fear of nuclear war as a result of the Cold War and the arms race the US had with Russia. Because the needs for building a nuclear arsenal are really only to be able to do as much damage to another nation as quickly as possible, the idea that North Korea instilled in people around the world that they are still actively testing their nuclear arms to prepare for a day when they are needed sparked a fear in people that nuclear war could occur within their lifetime, and North Korea may be the ones to do it should a nation threaten them or declare war on them for any reason. With all this in mind, it is most likely that such tests having been made public and announced only minutes before they were to occur were used as a deterrent to discourage other nations from acting unfavorably toward North Korea using fear of nuclear war.

I have included the Wikipedia page about all the nuclear weapons tests North Korea has held.]]> 2020-11-18 23:27:50 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939242500 jacob_miller_msu https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939243596 In 1988, during his campaign for the presidency, George H.W. Bush released a commercial about his and Michael Dukakis's (the Democratic candidate for presidency at the time) positions on crime and the death penalty. The ad states that George H.W. Bush is in favor of the death penalty, and that Dukakis is not only not in favor of the death penalty, but as the governor of Massachusetts, he also supported the idea that this add called "weekend passes" in which criminals could leave the jail on furlough to go back home periodically. The ad talks about how a criminal named Willie Horton, who was serving a life sentence for murdering a boy in an armed robbery by repeatedly stabbing him, received furlough via Dukakis's crime plan as governor 10 times, and during his last furlough away from jail, he ended up kidnapping a couple and raping the woman repeatedly in front of her boyfriend, then proceeded to stab the boyfriend to death. This ad targeted the public's fear of criminals and having something horrible like what Willie Horton did happen to them or someone they love. It is widely believed that the significant increase in Bush's lead in the election following this ad was largely in part due to Dukakis's flawed view of how to handle crime that was exposed in this ad and shown as the cause of Horton's second heinous crime spree.

I have included a link to the ad on YouTube.]]> 2020-11-18 23:28:06 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939243596 jacob_miller_msu https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939243799 Terrorism is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as "the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims". This means that, by definition, terrorism is a political tool used to instill or heighten fear in a group of people with the goal of causing them to react a certain way. An example of this comes from the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, in which a terrorist group called al-Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center in New York City with the believed political goal of scaring the United States into withdrawing it's military and civilian personnel from the Holy Land; which consists of Israel, Palestine, part of Syria, part of Jordan, and part of Lebanon. Osama Bin Laden, the former leader of al-Qaeda and an organizer of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, proclaimed in November of 2002 that al-Qaeda's motives for the attacks were because of the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia, US support of Israel, sanctions against Iraq, and US involvement in acts of aggression against Muslims in Somalia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and the Qana massacre in Lebanon. As a result, we can infer that they blamed our actions for 9/11 in an attempt to scare us into going back on the actions they said led them to do it. Of course, the outcome was very different, as George W. Bush, our acting president at the time, used the 9/11 terrorist attacks to feul the war on terrorism, which ultimately just led to more US military involvement in many countries in the Middle East.

I included a link to a Wikipedia page that talks a lot about why 9/11 occurred and how Bin Laden tried to influence the United States to change their actions using fear and violence. I apologize for the picture that pops up for the link and any negative emotions it may insight.]]> 2020-11-18 23:28:12 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939243799 jacob_miller_msu https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939243897 In more recent years, there have been a lot of news stories that have blown up regarding police attacking and killing people of color seemingly without a cause. Some examples of this that were all over the news and incited protests in their respective areas were the death of Eric Garner in July of 2014, the shooting of Michael Brown in August of 2014, the shooting of Tamir Rice in November of 2014, the shooting of Philando Castile in July of 2016, the shooting of Alton Sterling in July of 2016, the shooting of Breonna Taylor in March of 2020, and the death of George Floyd in May of 2020. Because of these incidents, the problem of racism in the police force of our country has been brought to light, and the movement "Black Lives Matter" was started in order to combat this problem as well as other problems of racism in the United States. However, in recent years, this problem of racism within members of the police has been blown out of proportion, to the point where many people of all races are starting to believe that there aren't any good cops out there, meaning it's becoming a more and more popular belief that all cops are racist. This is a serious issue as not only are the worst cops being made to represent cops as a whole, but it incites violence and hate toward all cops, which in turn causes more hostile situations in which people could get hurt; cops or otherwise. Social media in particular, as well as blogs all over the internet and some professional news sources, are responsible for the spread of this harmful ideal, in which they pass these cops that have committed heinous actions against people of color as representing all cops and thereby increasing the fear of cops in all people, especially those of color, by portraying them all as inherently evil, violent, and racist.

I provided a link to an article that talks about an example of this anti-cop movement in New York back in late 2019.]]> 2020-11-18 23:28:16 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939243897 carte461 https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939458596 This article talks about the effect of fear mongering on people's psyche and how it effects their day to day lives from a psychological point of view.]]> 2020-11-19 01:18:55 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939458596 carte461 https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939464246 This video is an example of fear mongering that is trying to get Lynden B Johnson Elected. It goes so far as to imply that if you don't vote for him, you will be nuked. ]]> 2020-11-19 01:21:46 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939464246 carte461 https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939475147 This article shows the effectiveness of fear mongering in advertising and how fear can make us want to buy one thing over another.]]> 2020-11-19 01:27:24 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939475147 carte461 https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939483706 This article talks about the way in which fear affects how our brains behave and includes examples of those influences.]]> 2020-11-19 01:31:56 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939483706 carte461 https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939496444 This article talks about how fear is used in the media.]]> 2020-11-19 01:38:32 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939496444 floydmal https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939772162 Kim Jong-un uses fear mongering to intimidate his people and other countries. This tactic works to for him to keep people on edge. He creates an anxiety that causes people to feel uneasy about what he may do next. For example, when he threatens to launch a missile at the United States that could reach major cities. This fear also works well for him since it forces citizens in North Korea to obey his orders. He threatens people with extreme forms of punishment in order to keep his people in line. This article explains more on how he uses fear mongering to strengthen his power.]]> 2020-11-19 04:14:52 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939772162 floydmal https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939810569 This article explains how foreign countries can be used to spread information that may start fear and mistrust. In this case, Russia during the election four years ago was blamed for tampering with votes. Since people were unable to find confirmation about this in the moment, they were forced to question what they heard on the news and media. This mistrust lead people to fear the election process and people in office. ]]> 2020-11-19 04:35:25 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939810569 floydmal https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939835581 This article explains how trump used fear mongering during his campaign for the 2020 election. During his speeches he would address topics that would scare people. He also ignored issues that people needed comfort on and that lead to mistrust from voters.]]> 2020-11-19 04:48:42 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939835581 floydmal https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939848767 This article explains how the news and media was used to make people think immigration was a bad thing for the US. However, that is not actually the case. This was used to persuade people to think immigration is bad and should be avoided. It created a sense of fear towards it, when really there is no reason to have that fear.]]> 2020-11-19 04:56:07 UTC https://padlet.com/jacob_miller_msu/51svu3eivvxlrfpl/wish/939848767