“Give fear a chance.”
As you know, over the years we’ve presented all sorts of suggestions as how people out there can select individuals in government, education, (students, teachers and professors alike), and media, all who’ve gone astray, and simply inject a little bit of fear into them which, with a success rate similar to the Covid vaccines, 90% plus, will cause them to stop the bad things they are doing.
It’s a proven truth, Fear alone can cause the vast majority to stop, or at least to pause and reflect, that “if I do this, I might get a whomping”, at an equally high rate.
About Fear
But to understand this simple concept, you must first understand a little about the nature of the survival-enhancing nature of fear, for in my life-time, I have watched three generations rise, including my own, where the traditional methods a society teaches its young to be aware of the most common dangers has gone from 90% to well below 50%, depending largely on the social strata in which they are raised. And this runs the full gamut from bears and rattlesnakes in the woods to crossing streets to learning to say “Thank you” and “Yes sir” and No, ma’am”. We have all witnessed both men and women in their 50’s and 60’s, once denied something they very much want, say, a choice parking slot at Kohl’s or fries with their Whopper, who will then fly into an uncontrollable rage, often involving turning over the condiments shelves.
In many cases a simple “No” is a sufficient trigger for such an outburst. The toy aisle at Walmart is no longer the only place we see full-blown teat fits in process, and no longer limited to 5-year olds.
In fact, these days thousands upon thousands also do it as a kind of sport, only now often staged, the rage artificially induced with a snort, an injection, or the pop of a pill. What the Germans used in World War II was called Pervitin, and soldiers could go on 3-day benders requiring little or no rest while engaging their enemies.
Today it’s called “crystal meth” and comes across the border in any number of ways. And it can turn a simple command by an authority figure into uncontrollable rage or fearlessness of pain until, like the German soldier, a great pain stops him or her dead in her tracks.
For young Americans this is the one thing they are not trained for; a sharp pain across the body or face, or the awful gagging taste of a chunk of Ivory Soap (which I have been required to eat and partially swallow, exactly one time).
Fear is not instinctive in humans, unlike animals It must be taught. A toddler who doesn’t know how to swim with still jump right in, fearless, unless restrained, until eventually taught. It’s a process.
In America hundreds of tragic drownings occur every year in backyard swimming pools belonging to affluent citizens causing all sorts of changes in their rules of use after, in 1941 actor Anthony Quinn’s son, age 2 1/2, wandered onto nearby W C Fields property and drowned in a small lily-pad pond behind his house.
Lawyers and insurance companies almost always get involved, and these days in many states you can’t crawl inside a jon-boat to go frog gigging or a canoe ride down a gentle southern river just to see the sights without having to wear a life preserver, or at least keep one close at hand should you spy a ranger uniform downstream.
This practice has even crossed over to bicycles over the past 30 years, for in most places it’s unlawful for even an adult to ride a granny-cycle along a tree-covered sidewalk. I suspect roller-skates are next.
But for some reason state-mandated fear has not been extended to the gratuitous destruction of public or private property if a measurable percentage of the rioters belong to the upper-connected- classes. We’re guessing here, but let’s say 20%-30% of a city’s population, although it matters little since the appearance of even one Li’l Lord Fauntleroy or Lady Furia among a raiding band seems to anoint all the other pillagers with a get-out-of-jail-free card. And yes, gawking bystanders and veterans in wheelchairs are often injured just for the helluvit.
I can’t even begin to list for you all the teachable moments about “fear” and the resulting “don’t try that again”‘s that can last a lifetime that are lost here, but these days police are denied the time-honored in loco parentis privilege of teaching Li’l Fauntleroy a lesson he’ll never forget, and likely never repeat. I can personally tell you about the fear of “lying”, all because of a simple bloody nose I received at age 11, and how it is now in at least its third generation of being re-taught in my family. I still mention Mick Hensley in my prayers for I learned a great lesson, and especially the virtues of the unconventional method of teaching.
But that was around 1956, and what I have learned by observation since is that entire generations have been denied that simple lesson.
If you’re reading this you already know the convergence of the laws of God, the “Thou shalt not’s”, and the natural laws of Reciprocity, e.g, if you lie you may get your nose busted, or what might happen if you walk down certain unlit streets at 2 AM.
Then of course there are the adults perpetrators such as college instructors, professors, PC-organizers, a long list of media writers, (we’re beginning to make lists) and of course a longer list of local, county and state officials who apparently have no moral qualms about the lies they repeat or the outrages they induce or abet, all largely under the assumption that neither they will ever bear any payback for their acts.
It’s been said that “at both ends of the economic spectrum there is a leisure class” and this sense of being able to do things, including harm other people without remorse…stealing or causing pain…is now done with no sense of wrong-doing by the actor. Remorselessness. Fewer and fewer known right-from-wrong, just legal-and-illegal which only means to avoid being caught.
In loco parentis
Sadly, we can’t do anything about curing the long-term effects of cultural remorselessness, since it’s a condition that arises entirely by the absence of a moral code inside the home, where a child is originally taught the difference between doing something wrong, and merely being caught. That requires a
But for public bad actors, we can instill a healthier respect for fear while the rest of society tries to get its act back in order. It should be made manifestly clear to an offending person, first by a notice, and then by a dead rosebush, et al, that he/she should be afraid, should they continue down this path. Call it a “cease and desist” order from a dark alley.
Give fear a chance.
This is a simple process…which is why we insist on never being recognized or seen. For if they ever know who you are you already know how they will respond, usually en masse.
