The Consequences of Politics of Fear

The “politics of fear” that takes its origin from the post-war times is believed to be a strong tool able to control all the processes within the society. It is obvious that it had a great impact on the relationships between the United States and other countries involved in the Cold War. The task of this essay is to find out the consequences of the “politics of fear” on the US history after the Cold War.

The term “politics of fear” was determined as political activity of people who used fear as a key factor in manipulation of mass. After World War II people had a hope for peaceful relationships between the countries and prolific cooperation with their allies. However, such expectations were of no advantage for the US political leaders who had their own plans against their strategic opponents. In order to receive support for their backward and even inhumane political activity against the Soviet Union the US president Harry Truman had to convince the society he was going to fight against “communist tyranny”. He reckoned precisely that fear was the strongest emotion that was able to control the crowd and make people obey to the rules and ideas beneficial for politicians in their politics.

With regard to the US history of modern times, it should be pointed out that “politics of fear” that has appeared during the Cold War has determined the further politics of next US presidents. In spite of the fact that nowadays they declare the victory of democracy, all-around atrocity and hostile attitude to eastern countries are clearly observed in their politics. In order to justify the invasion of the US troops to Iraq and explain bombing of innocent people, American president engrafted an idea that this country was dangerous as it was the center of terrorism. Political correctness is considered to be a new liberal form of the “politics of fear” as it is based on racism, sexism, and homophobia. Still politics contains dirty tricks, which are based on class hatred and envy. Nothing has changed in the US history and politics in spite of the fact that it declares total freedom and democracy.