Dread Quotes
This is the principle that the terrorist lives by—to inculcate fear of danger in as many people as possible,
The fear of nuclear war was a major emotion for most people in the world at the time. Hard liners like Goldwater were concerned that that fear would undermine support for greater nuclear development and deployment in America and maintaining opposition to nuclear test ban treaties that were under discussion. He made the mistake however of referring to the fear as “craven”, morally denigrating any American who might be in fear of nuclear war, which included just about everyone. So the Democrats took this quotation and used it in their battery of TV ads showing Goldwater as not only a hard liner, but one who had no empathy or understanding for a normal person who feared a nuclear conflict—one who was not to be trusted with the Presidency. Had Goldwater simply argued that legitimate and reasonable fear of nuclear conflict might make the nation too timid and perhaps inadvertently increase the likelihood of nuclear disaster by not standing up to the Russians, he may not have had the resentment from most people who thought Goldwater was calling their fears “craven”.
This is one of the quotations from the Koran which many Islamic terrorists point to in order to morally justify terrorism. For an example, see {586965}.
Spinoza was one of the most feared intellectuals in human history—feared, that is, by the established power structures. Spinoza’s ideas were considered so radical and dangerous that he was the only man in history who was excommunicated by the Catholics, the Jews and the Muslims.
This is the opposite viewpoint from most sages, wise men and philosophers. They maintain that people’s fears are almost always worse than the reality. However, Thompson was a great pessimist, sometimes an occupational hazard for a muckraker or an investigative journalist. When he really dug down deep enough in politics, there was usually something very unsavory he would find that most people did not expect.
