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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor (slightly modified)

 

…demagogues benefit from keeping people agitated. The more threatened people feel, the less likely they are to listen to dissenting opinions, and the more easily controlled they are.

Joe Keohane, How facts backfire [via Political Wire]

Worst-case thinking encourages society to adopt fear as of one of the key principles around which the public, the government and various institutions should organise their lives. It institutionalises insecurity and fosters a mood of confusion and powerlessness. Through popularising the belief that worst cases are normal, it also encourages people to feel defenceless and vulnerable to a wide range of future threats. In all but name, it is an invitation to social paralysis.

Frank Furedi, This shutdown is about more than volcanic ash [via Bruce Schneier]

…fear of terror has been institutionalized at the top as well as the bottom of society

Tom Engelhardt, Fear Inc. [via Bruce Schneier]

Fear is not a motivating factor. You might be able to get a little bit more out of someone in the short term, but you will completely erode your business and your culture in the long term. You’re going to lose all your good people. You’re not going to have people tell you the truth, and it becomes the tradition.

Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSN [via NYTCo Communicatons]

Individuals threatened by terrorism become less trusting of others, even their own neighbors. Other studies have shown that they become less supportive of the rights of Arab and Muslim Americans. In addition, we found that such effects extend to immigrants and, as well, to a group entirely remote from the subject of terrorism: gay Americans. The specter of terrorist threat creates ruptures in our social fabric…

Jennifer Merolla and Elizabeth Zechmeister, Reconsidering Public Reactions to Terrorism [via Bruce Schneier]

At times it seems as if parents are being deliberately encouraged to fear for their children’s lives, though only a cynic would suggest there was money to be made in doing so.

Michael Chabon, Manhood for Amateurs: The Wilderness of Childhood

A society built on fear serves its masters; a society built on trust serves its members.

Mark Pesce, quoting something heard at the PdF ’09 Conference [via]