* * * * * * * * * *
"Fear" is one of those manipulative words that manipulative people use as another control handle on society. If, for instance, a person recognized that homosexual marriage was technically not described as "marriage" before the definitions were officially changed, it isn't called a fact by the Brain Police, it is called a fear, a phobia.
You hear this all the time. If you enjoy hanging around the house, sooner or later someone will accuse you of having some kind of "fear" of socializing. Or if you think, as I do, that the whole Harley-Davidson motorcycle fad is a clown show, you'll be tagged as "afraid" to dress like a fool and drive around on an expensive, clumsy, primitive vehicle.
These statements of "fear", of course, bear within their accusation an assumption that there is some set of behavior that is mandatory for you to accept and obey. These statements are an attempt to claim authority over you, and power over you, and quite a few people fall for it.
**********
I just saw a great example of the "fear" gambit. There is an institution that has two websites; one with an old design and one with a new design. At the bottom of the new one, it says "Afraid of change? Click here for the old style site."
In other words, take what we give you or you're a coward.
A thoughtful human being would have said "If you prefer the former style...", but you know how personal preference is frowned upon among some groups.
Better yet, it's a twofer. They use the meaningless and duplicitous word "change". Not "improvement" or "update" or "redesign". "Change", as if that were a sufficient reason for anything.
*********