Opus 2025-377: The Manipulation of Fear

Fear is a powerful force in our lives.

Most of us can deal with fear when there is something concrete to be afraid of.  If I know there is a bear roaming in my neighborhood I can still think clearly and make good choices.  Number one is don’t go walking my dog.  That is double since I don’t have a dog.  If you are a soldier in combat there is every reason to fear but millions of men have dealt with that.

The fear that gets us is the unknown.  I used to be afraid of the monster under my bed.  It didn’t do any good to look underneath with a flashlight.  He was good at hiding.  I eventually came to accept there was no such thing and the fear departed.  I can now walk in the dark both inside and outside the house and not worry about anything but tripping.

The big problem comes when forces beyond our control conspire to manipulate our fear.  What comes to mind is the recent panic over a virus that got a lot more publicity than it deserved.  At first there was the fear of the unknown.  The powers-that-be lied to us from the very beginning.  After two months I knew it was all a lie.  How?  I paid attention.  Remember the two cruise ships quarantined in Tokyo harbor?  They represented two perfect petri dishes for the incubation of danger of the disease.  On one ship no one died.  On the other seven.  Those are not the numbers of the biggest plague since the black death.  It is more on the level of the seasonal flu.

Facts were ignored and warnings were multiplied.  Of all the advice given the only one that had any value was to wash your hands and we should have already known that.  Masks were useless.  It said so right on the package.  Distance was a product of the imagination.  Did the virus die after traveling six feet?  The deceit grew as we were offered safe and effective treatments.  They were neither.  

The manipulation worked.  I still see people in the grocery store with masks and that look in their eye.  The game is being played again.  The warnings are starting up.  Lucy has her football out and all the Charlie Browns are ready to punt.  The list of fears is long and often unnoticed.  It includes climate change, warnings about things like salt and coffee, standing up against men in women’s sports and the nonsense of the TSA.

Christians are more resistant to this manipulation, or they should be.  When it comes to fear of a virus that can kill us we are aware of where we go when we die so it is not as big a threat.  We have a general trust in the hand of Providence and the work of the Holy Spirit.  We are aware of the amazing immune system that God designed for us.  

This reduced fear is why Christians were leaders in the Underground Railroad and Civil Rights movement.  It is why they volunteered to care for the sick in times of epidemic.  It is why we staffed the early hospitals.  Many died but the fear was kept in check by trust in a higher power.

That is another reason why the cultural Marxists are out to destroy the church.  We stand in the way of their goal of global domination.  They will keep trying.  We will keep resisting.  It means that every believer is a member of the resistance.  

homo unius libri