It has been disappointing to note this week, in the wake of the attack on Bourke Street in Melbourne, to see the Prime Minister resorting to the language of fear in responding to the tragedy.
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By pushing the “Islamic extremist” panic button, the government is sending a number of disturbing messages to the public, none of which have anything to do with perceived danger from any sector of society, and all of which are about political manipulation.
Creating a culture of fear, especially around a specific group, cultivates societal vulnerability. It plays to our darkest fears about ‘the other’, and therefore begins to drive wedges between groups.
Fear is a means of control through infantilising the populace and demanding compliance. Circus animals used to be trained by fear (maybe they still are).
Making wild animals fearful of their trainers ensured that they complied with behavioural expectations. A lion tamer, for example, was able to control animals that might otherwise eat him in seconds flat.
The same is true of governments using fear to “train” their constituents. The fate of governments rests in the pencil stub we hold as our hands hover over the ballot form. A fearful population is a compliant one and it is in the government’s interest that our behaviour is controlled. We might otherwise, metaphorically speaking, eat the government in seconds flat.
Optimism, on the other hand, allows for freedom: freedom to think for ourselves; freedom to grow as a society rather than becoming insular and nervous. Weak governments have every reason to fear an optimistic electorate.
Compare comments regarding refugees of New Zealand’s Prime Minister Ardern, who leads a strong and progressive government with those of Prime Minister Morrison. The former, in announcing that New Zealand will increase its quota of refugees said, “This is the right thing to do. It fulfills New Zealand’s obligation to do our bit and provide a small number of people, displaced by war and disaster each year, a place to call home.”
Mr Morrison, on the other hand, said that “More refugees will attempt to come to Australia if children are evacuated from Nauru.”
One statement is optimistic; one cultivates fear. The divide-and-conquer rhetoric of fear can shackle, and ultimately cripple a society. The language of optimism breaks those chains. We are lions.
