OPINION: Don’t fall for political fearmongering
By Grace Hong
GUEST WRITER
This article was republished with permission from FXBG Advance’s news partner InsideNoVa.com. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
It feels like the world is falling apart – an economic disaster, a Constitutional crisis, a rise in crime – and it’s not a coincidence that Virginia’s summer primaries are right around the corner.
Issues that have long existed are now amplified and paired with the loyalty of a politician who promises to solve these urgent threats. In hindsight, fearmongering strategies seem easy to recognize, but we fall for them all the time.
Most explanations claim scare tactics work because they trigger our survival instincts into action. However, such analyses fail to recognize that fear actually pulls us in more than it pushes us away. Political scare tactics work because we humans are naturally drawn to fear.
This matters especially in Virginia – a state already divided into a generally Democratic north and Republican south – where referendums are increasingly contested. With the recent redistricting amendment producing such slim margins, we cannot continue letting politicians exploit our anxieties. Instead of restricting them, however, we must assume responsibility by controlling fear’s allure within us.
The power of fearmongering begins with how we process fear. We like to assume our democracy is a fully accountable system based on voters who exercise thoughtful reasoning.
Yet, when emotional urgency bypasses rational evaluation, we have immense difficulty differentiating between legitimate and overexaggerated threats. Fear appeals are most effective when there is a high risk that comes with a clear solution. Candidates, by positioning themselves as that resolution, strategically engineer our narrowed thinking to maximize engagement.
Beyond clouding our judgement, frightening narratives also inherently draw us in. In my research on media and psychology, I found that people receive satisfaction through the release of their repressed sentiments – a concept termed catharsis. As voters, we subconsciously seek alarming campaigns because they alleviate our inner turmoil. Sometimes, our thirst to understand a phenomenon can even outweigh the discomfort terrors cause, meaning threats become tolerated to satiate our curiosity. The ultimate effect is an arousal of public interest.
Still, some may claim that fear is integral to modern policy making. Major problems in Virginia’s public safety, cost of living and data center expansion must be addressed. However, the education about such challenges leaves no room for inflammatory rage bait for individual gain. There is a boundary between informational content and pure alarmism.
Recent political strategy has shown how easily that line can be crossed. Fear was ubiquitous in Virginia’s redistricting referendum last month. One side encouraged voters to “stop the MAGA power grab.” The other counteracted with horrifying images of Klansmen and Jim Crow laws to frighten Blacks. Millions of dollars of dark money went toward advertising that misled many voters.
Fear is effective, but not necessary. As an outreach fellow for my school’s voting club, I have been on the other end of having to mobilize voters. It is entirely possible to campaign without exploiting voters’ anxieties. In a recent New York City mayoral race, our table registered 243 new students just by listening to others’ concerns and building trust.
Yet despite knowing this information, politicians for centuries have terrorized the public to advance narratives in favor of their campaigns because it works. We must change our response by consuming information from multiple sources and recognizing alarmism to maintain Virginia’s integrity in politics.
With the partisan balance of Congress on the line this fall, Virginia voters should be wary of our vulnerability to fearmongering traps. We are wired to be susceptible to panic-inducing stimuli. Before jumping to conclusions, distinguish whether your fear is being activated or whether you are being informed. Addressing larger issues such as political polarization and the toxicity of our modern administrations begins by shifting our thinking away from reckless urgency.
Remember your anxiety is profitable – only if you allow it to.
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