OPINION:
Leftists love fear.
In a choice between persuading by logic and pressuring by fear, leftists will go for fear every time. Why? It’s the go-to motivator for the nonthinking crowd.
It’s the means of moving mountains without having to do all that hard thinking stuff. Or more to point, it’s the means of moving mountains without giving opportunity for the masses to do all that hard thinking stuff. Quick, do as you’re told — no time to think!
So it goes with the coronavirus, and how the Democrats in positions of power across the United States have managed to keep free citizens in shutdown mode — by catering to the nonthinking squawkers who are blown this way and that, all by fear.
So it goes with social media, and how the petulant progressives and whiny snowflakes and secular socialists and all those of that lower-to-zero thinking class ilk have managed to censor conservative speech — by demanding the removal of all countering opinions that might put a dent in their delicate delusions and force a reevaluation that circles back to, once again, that hard thinking stuff.
It’s all about the fear.
Generate enough fear and there’s no end to what might be accomplished. Changed. Reformed.
Destroyed.
Leftists use fear to accomplish their political and cultural goals because they themselves are driven to act by fear. They know firsthand the power of fear. They fear countering viewpoints — so they move to shut down countering viewpoints. Want a face to go with that? An image to drive home the point? Jack Dorsey on Twitter suffices. Jack Dorsey on Twitter, and all those suffering tweeting trolls who spend far too much time looking for the next post to hate. To fear. To cry for censor.
Fear makes them run, so they assume fear will make others similarly run.
The whole coronavirus sage, as it continues to unfold, has been fueled by one fearful prediction after another — predictions which have then been cherry-picked by leftist politicians as the means of justifying selective shutdowns, selective closures, selective enforcement of unconstitutional executive orders.
If Americans didn’t fear, there would be no business closures, no school closures, no stay at home orders, right now, circa December 2020. The numbers don’t justify the shutdowns; the science doesn’t show the need for such responses. Those who say they do are being driven by fear, deceived by fear.
It’s fear and fear alone that’s keeping Americans in bondage.
And we have an example of where it all leads: Just as conservatives are increasingly booted from Twitter, from Facebook, from YouTube, from social media, based on the angry fears of an ignorant left that can’t tolerate dissenting opinion — so will go the state of America’s economy, America’s education system, America’s free market and free society and freedoms for individuals in general.
Take a page from rapidly rotting anti-free speech social media and see: leftists don’t voluntarily let go of power. They only dig in deeper. They only grow bolder with each success. Even when outed as lunatic leftists on crazy censorship crusades, they don’t repent. They don’t cede control.
Leftists in political leadership, both now and coming this January, aren’t going to voluntarily let go of power, either. Not with a coronavirus still in town. Nope. They’ll only dig in deeper. They’ll only grow bolder.
They’ll only continue to use fear to curtail individual freedom — specifically, conservative and free market principles — even more. Their end game, of course, is control. Total, top-down, totalitarian control. The worse slap in the face is they’ll demand appreciation for taking away the burden of having to do all that hard thinking stuff to boot.
That’s how socialism, communism, collectivism comes: a cringe of fear at a time.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
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