Fear is a powerful tool that can be used to control people.
More often than not, fear had turned into economic opportunities for many.
After the 911 incident, fear, insecurity that had been rooted in the amercian’s heart had inevitably converted into an extreme need for security, one that resulted it massive spike in gun sales. If you doubt yours truly, just do a google search for “america gun sales increase after 911″ and look at what you get.
During the period of SARS, despite the scientific fact that those cloth masks and cup shaped masks not being able to block viruses, just look at what people are doing. Masks of all kinds were just flying off the shelves. In Taiwan people were even so desperate as to use bra cups as masks! This is the kind of extreme need that fear can drives.
The media plays an important part in stimulating demand through fear. Fear goes being wants and needs in driving people to get something. While in “wants” and “needs” people still at least get a choice if they really “need” or “want” to acquire something, fear hurls all logic out of the window and the only thing that will resonate in the mind is “I must get! I must get!”
Just look at how our local newspaper ran an article about plastic bottles MAY have negative impacts on health when used for long period of time. The next moment, Sigg Bottles, a metal water bottle produced by a Switzerland company that I couldn’t even find in any local shops when I try to buy one a year earlier, were sold practically everywhere and anywhere! Lots of potentially even more hazardous imitations and knock offs of Sigg Bottles also found its way to Singapore, and those were snapped up happily by the general public because reason no longer resides in any of their minds. Fear. I am scare. I need something safe. I MUST NOT USE A PLASTIC BOTTLE. I MUST GET A METAL ONE. SIGG BOTTLES.
Then look at the recent news article about rice shortage. It is almost like saying “Oh, rice are all going to be very expensive and people are going to export lesser rice to us, but don’t worry! No fear! We have more than enough rice to last Singapore for 3 months!” The next thing we see people all running to the supermarket and running away with 10kgs of rice, with a 5% discount from our supposed trade union that does nothing much but open supermarkets. What is the 5% discount, when a 10kg pack of particular brand of rice had already risen from $15 to $20? Thats a god damned 25% increase! With all the rice being snapped up by people as if they were preparing for war, rice importers are smiling and laughing their teeth off because of the sudden windfall bestowed upon them by you and me.
What is more unbelievable is that a few days after this article another article was ran to assure that won’t worry people, we have enough rice!!!
Forget about money. Fear. Fear of letting supposed incompetent political oppositions getting into parliament. Fearing of letting Singapore fall into bad hand. Once the oppositions are portrayed as incompetent fools who only comes back to Singapore during elections and can’t even submit a form properly, the fear of letting weak clowns like this get into the parliament settles down nicely into everyone’s head and the parliament becomes a par-LEE-ment once again.
And look at the fear when people vote for their supposed ideal political party. “I am scared, what if the winning party don’t upgrade my fucking lifts if I don’t vote for them and they won?” This thought is common although I cannot prove them. Fear prevents people from speaking up against their source of fear. So my previous allegation may very well be me just crapping. But fear wins and the political party that can instill the best and most lasting fear wins. Fear of not getting a lift upgrade can warrant a political party’s victory. How cool is that.
In real democracy the government should fear the people, not the other way round. When the government fears the people then they will really review their policies and really look after people. No more “I am a good government so sometimes I must make decisions or policies the people may not like” crap. Because as long as you are competent enough and fear the people enough, you are bound to find a win win situation where both the government and the people benefits tangibly. That is how a society or a country should be able to progress.
No point telling people how much $ there are in the government’s monetary reserve and boasting about it when commoners have less money in their own banks. When people fear the government even when things that are so obviously wrong like this the fear will prevent people from speaking up, and the government will become bolder in pushing the people abit harder, give them abit more hardship, ask them to endure abit more, and the government increases taxes, medical bills just a tiny whiny bit every year, and let the transport companies happily buffet themselves on people’s hard earned money while paying bus drivers as low as a 3-digit figure.
As Web 2.0 emerges, people are starting to find that they actually have a voice. Oppressive government finds that their people have a new channel of voicing their views. And the people’s very fear turned into ridiculous new scandals and the slow but sure conversion of fear into hatred towards the source of fear. Sometimes, when a scary monster pushes you enough, you will just want to slice it into pieces.
Just look at China! Blocking of blogs and censorship of search engine? WTF?
We can only hope. Look at how the invention of blogs has revolutionalise the internet and caused so much headaches for oppressive governments around the world.
On a smaller scale, people’s voice can make big firms like Creative, Microsoft, Sony and lan jiaos like Odex reshape or at least revise their anti-competitive and stupid policies. It is only a matter of time when people’s voice can shape how they are ruled. And the word “rule” will lost all its meaning other than a long straight piece of plastic on our table that we use to draw line with.
PS: WTF am I crapping about? And sorry for the ridiculous amount of typos and grammatical errors.
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