Fear and Political Action

[nancylebov]

I recently heard some talk based on the idea that the reaction to the Bush administration most worth encouraging is fear.

I have two problems with this. One is merely factual--the administration is much weaker than it was. It's made disasterous mistakes, and the natural incompatities among its supporters are getting interesting. This doesn't mean it's become harmless and there are certainly still excellent reasons to oppose it, but imho, it's not nearly as scary as it was a year or two ago.

The other is psychological. Amp up the fear too high, and some people get paralyzed.

I'm asking those of you who've been following politics more carefully than I have: what mix of emotional appeals have contributed to changes you've wanted?

Comments

[zenlizard]

This is really a question of tactics: It's not so much as "what mix", as "what mix is/would be most effective *at this time*?"

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. Do you have any opinions about the best current mix?

[zenlizard]

Thinking about it, even my re-phrasing isn't good enough. An even better question would be "What is the best mix for *these* particular people* at *this particular time*?"