3.1 Real fears vs. fearmongering
The right wing uses fear to mobilize its base.
The response of progressives is to say…
If the right uses fear, then we shouldn’t. Instead, we should talk up hope.
But this is a scary world and so…
People have a right to be afraid.
But we activists have a right, too. We have a right to help people be scared of the right thing. We get to teach people that there’s…
Hurtful fear.
And then there’s…
Helpful fear.
Let’s start with the hurtful kind which is…
Tribal fear.
It’s the fear of other people, people who are not like us, people who are not in our tribe.
We know…
The right wants its followers to be scared.
They want their followers to be out of their minds with fear, because that makes them easier to manipulate.
So they hammer home their relentless messages of fear day and night. Which drives people ever deeper into hopelessness and despair. And rage.
Of course, we progressives don’t want to promote tribal fear.
But…
We do want people to be afraid.
Does that sound crazy? It’s not. We want them to be…
Afraid of tribal fundamentalism.
Because it’s so dangerous and destructive and causes so much suffering.
We want people to be afraid of right–wing tribal fearmongers, because they are scary and mean–spirited and enjoy hurting people. And they are ready for violence.
We want to take a very public stand that people do indeed have a right to be scared.
And they shouldn’t have to suppress their fear. But…
They don’t have to surrender to it either.
They don’t have to let it run their lives.
If we progressives don’t acknowledge fear, people will think we’re idiots. They’ll wonder what planet we’re living on. And they won’t listen to us or look to us for guidance.
What matters is not that you’re afraid, but what you’re afraid of, and then…
What you do with your fear.
We progressives can teach people how to…
Turn their fear of tribalism into into a fight for trans-tribalism.
That’s if we teach ourselves how to do that first.
So we’re promoting…
Helpful, healing, trans-tribal fight.
Instead of…
Hurtful tribal rage.
Have you noticed that the tribalists have it so much easier than us progressives?
We can work very hard on a campaign, we can be smart and strategic and still lose. They can be stupid and lazy and still win.
Why?
Because they have the whole force of human history working for them. They have the frikkin human operating system working for them. And this is a very big advantage.
And it matters that we understand the kind of political force tribalism is so we understand the odds we’re up against.
Of course after a loss, it’s important to debrief and see if there were ways we could have done better.
But I want every activist to understand that…
It’s so much easier to trigger tribal fear than it is to ignite progressive fight.
So you’ll know that on the deepest level…
Losing is not your fault.
And so you’ll appreciate your wins more deeply than you ever have before.
