The Frenzy Strategy

One of the best ways to control a large population is to get them all riled up about emotionally charged issues that rest on fear. For example— 

  • Whip people into a frenzy over abortion;

  • Whip people into a frenzy over woke-ness or Critical Race Theory in schools;

  • Whip people into a frenzy over LGBTQ+ equity;

  • Whip people into a frenzy over the border and immigration.

  • Whip people into a frenzy over losing white control of state governments;

  • Whip people into a frenzy over their losing the right to bear wartime-quality arms.

 A fundamental part of the strategy is connecting much of this to fundamental, traditional Christian values and core constitutional rights, or, better put, trying to apply those values to everyone in the population.

 The problem is that when we’re in the frenzy, we’re not…

  • Applying critical or nuanced thinking;

  • Discerning the truth from the lies;

  • Considering the harm we’re doing to marginalized or affected groups;

  • Separating the emotion from our decisions;

  • Focusing on the other real problems we face—

    • financial inequity,

    • systemic racism,

    • frozen government, political system of Red vs. Blue;

    • unbalanced and politically charged Supreme Court;

    • climate change, climate impact, world impact.

  • Controlling our fear

The Republican Party has been applying this strategy for decades. However, it’s not only them. It’s a broader case of yelling—

Squirrel!!!

 To a dog and stepping back. It’s a diversion to avoid facing our challenges and doing the clear-eyed and collaborative heavy-lifting to begin making progress.

The question is…how do we stop it? And begin the second generation of evolutionary American values?

The American President

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechtheamericanpresident.html

Here’s a snippet from the final speech that President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) gives in the movie The American President. I think it exemplifies the situation and this is from 1995.

“We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.”

Perhaps we need an entirely new field of Andrew Shepherds stepping in to lead our country?

Or perhaps we’re simply destined to be chasing squirrels for eternity?

This is a related post - https://www.agile-moose.com/blog/2022/5/28/when-confronted-with-an-inconvenient-or-uncomfortable-truth

But what I do know is that we can be better!