Politics | Terrorism | Violence
The Threat of Political Violence is All Too Real
We can’t just roll our eyes, we need to see it as the problem it is
Fear is a powerful emotion. It’s one of our greatest motivators as a species; the fear of death, the fear of loss, the fear of losing control.
People respond to fear in any number of different ways, whether by becoming defiant or by shutting down into silence. We might tremble, we might scream, we might yell and become aggressive. It depends on the individual.
In an election year, it’s important to keep the impact of fear in mind.
It is one of the tools that those angling to gain power and authority will use to try and sway people to their side. They might do it by instilling fear in the public and promising them protection, or they might do it by driving people to be afraid of the other side.
Sometimes fear comes into play in a much more direct fashion, though. Sometimes your hand is going to be forced under the actual threat of physical violence.
Intimidation at the voting polls is supposed to be illegal, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
