Presiding Over a Nation Gone Mad

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Responsible and prudent rulers avoid saying and doing things that cause fear and loathing to spread in the populace. A tragic feature of the human condition is the strong and persistent tendency of rulers to incite fear to manipulate the people to wage war. The enemy could be framed as any class, ethnic group, religious sect, nation, political party, or even natural phenomena such as “climate change” or an infectious disease pathogen such as SARS-COV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19. Incited and amplified by propaganda, fear may spread through a population, compelling the people to participate in highly irrational and destructive collective actions. Rulers can either take action to dampen fear, or they can fan the flames because they believe that doing so serves their interests.—Mind Viruses: America’s Irrational Obsessions,by John LeakeSubscribe nowShare