Histronics and Fear

"It's probably a good rule to do the opposite of anything the Iranian theocracy wants. Apparently, this government is now doing its darnedest to be bombed. So, for the time being, we should not grant them this wish." April 9, 2007, Please Bomb Me! by Victor Davis Hanson, Tribune Media Services

I agree with Mr. Hanson. However, human behavior is ruled more by passion than reason. I've thought most of the histrionics from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were to garner support from his own people, not to threaten the West.

Most leaders always need a bogey man, or bogey woman, to instill fear among their followers. The church created Satan to instill fear. Labor leaders instill fear of the power of big business. Tribal leaders throughout history have sold fear in order to obtain loyalty.

Fear is a primordial instinct. Without it we and other animals would not survive from predators and natural dangers. This fear can be rational and irrational. Both can impair good decision making.

From primitive creatures to modern man, fear has cause and affect. Humans' fear caused them to seek protection in groups, which later became States. These States have different kinds of governments, from authoritarian governments, to some modern liberal democratic governments.

If some people in the group are strong and swift, the slow and weak will fear their weakness. This fear makes many people desire an egalitarian society. An egalitarian society means there are no strong and weak, so no one has to fear another. This silent freedom from fear is what makes socialism and communism so alluring to the human mind.

In a socialist or communist society one can be free from fears created in a free market society of competition, luck, and merit. A free market society with competition and merit performance soon separates the slow and weak from the swift and the strong. The slow and the weak are exposed. The exposure creates enormous fear, creating a socialist society where the swift and the strong, (the leaders) ironically, exploit the fears of the slow and weak.

Bilbo Baggins