Using Fear

October 27, 2004, the BBC aired one of its documentaries in the Fear series. This episode was titled The Power of Nightmares.

In this program, the BBC detailed how before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bin Laden’s movement was a failing movement, that had not succeeded in arousing the masses in the Middle East against what it saw as corruption coming from the West. The only place they could go where masses had not turned away from their gruesome and violent means was Afghanistan. In 1996/1997 they announced a jihad on America itself which, they believed, was the source of this corruption.

At the same time, the BBC noted, the neo-conservatives in the U.S. were also failing to get their message through to the American people that their country had become corrupted by liberal politics. After failing to fully undermine Clinton in a few scandals, the Monica Lewinksy affair became a major opportunity. They gained power in 2000.

September 11, the BBC noted, became the opportunity for the neo-cons to create a new enemy to replace the now defunct Soviet Union. In effect then, they made out Bin Laden’s failing movement to be a serious revolutionary organization. Ironically, the BBC also pointed out, this was the same image Bin Laden seemed to dream of aspiring to.

Fear, used by Islamic extremists on Muslim people throughout the Middle East, could once again be used, as the BBC ended. This time it would be used by the neo-conservatives upon American citizens in order to gather support for what used to be considered an extremist ideology, even by many conservatives. All this would now fall under the banner of a war on terror.

Yet, a cycle of violence is what should also be feared. Fear may be used to rally support for more extreme measures both upon citizens of America, and upon people of other countries. Yet, using fear in such a way may fuel harsh reactions, leading to further harsh retaliations, and so on. Once again ordinary citizens may suffer the most.

For more on this aspect, see this site’s section on the middle east and in particular aboutsupport by the west of brutal leaders in the middle east where there is more context as to why some Islamic extremism arose, why support for it was failing, and the impact on ordinary citizens.