Fear mongering (or scaremongering) is the use of fear to leverage the opinions and actions of others towards some end. The object of fear is sometimes exaggerated, and the use of fear mongering is often directed in a manner using repetition, in order to continuously reinforce the intended effects of using this tactic in a self-reinforcing manner, like a vicious circle.

Uses in politics

Fear mongering is often used in a time of war as a political tactic to frighten citizens and influence their political views. Fear mongering in the United States surfaced most prominently during the era of McCarthyism, when the nation first faced the threat of nuclear attack. Since then politicians and pundits alike have realized and utilized the powerful influential impact that fear can have on American voters. Fear of terrorism born from the September 11th attacks has been arguably exploited by incumbent politicians to maintain their control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, and Executive branch of the government.

Campaign advertisements

Probably the best example in American politics is the Daisy television commercial, a famous campaign television advertisement that begins with a little girl standing in a meadow with chirping birds, picking the petals of a daisy while counting each petal slowly. When she reaches "9", an ominous-sounding male voice is then heard counting down a missile launch, and as the girl's eyes turn toward something she sees in the sky, the camera zooms in until her pupil fills the screen, blacking it out. When the countdown reaches zero, the blackness is replaced by the flash and mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion.

As the firestorm rages, a voice-over from Johnson states, "These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die." Another voice-over then says, "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKs-bTL-pRg

Uses in popular culture

On August 16, 2006, during the check in between Jon Stewart's and Stephen Colbert's comedy shows, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report respectively, Colbert introduced a fake report on fear mongering. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prfNorGW4C0

See also

• Culture of fear
• Propaganda
• Homeland Security Advisory System
• Willie Horton

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