The Perpetual Fear Industry

From my primary "I Protest" Substack (April 2022) at donaldjeffries.substack.com

The threat of World War III is still hanging over our heads, as both the mainstream and alt media continue to proclaim we are “closer than we’ve ever been” to it. While “COVID” is no longer officially terrifying us, some people remain masked, and too many are eager for the next “pandemic,” three years after this article was written.

A month ago, our illustrious President Joe Biden warned Americans that food shortages were “going to be real.” He blamed the Russians, of course, who have become the Salem witches of the twenty first century. Mostly anonymous “Experts” were quoted throughout mainstream media, forecasting the same thing.

Evidently, some nefarious arsonists must have heard these predictions, because at least sixteen fires subsequently broke out at food storage facilities all across this country. More astoundingly, two different planes crashed into food processing plants recently. I think the odds of that happening are tantamount to winning the lottery twice in the same week. Throw in the fact that all this happened in the wake of strange pronouncements about a food storage, and you have an unprecedented actuarial unlikelihood.

The U.S. government has been following the curious policy of paying farmers not to grow crops, and forcing them to throw away food as well, for almost a century. My hero Huey Long was ranting about this insanity in the 1930s. We also force restaurants to throw away a huge amount of food. The rationale behind this is that if they gave it to the hungry, they might sue them if it made them sick. Real leaders would quickly resolve this by having all restaurants put up a visible disclaimer stating that those taking the food are responsible for any nasty reactions.

Our leaders, like most leaders around the world, have long understood that nothing sells like fear. One of the all time great conspirators, Franklin D. Roosevelt, famously assured his countrymen that they “had nothing to fear but fear itself.” He then proceeded to dangle the Hitler/Sneaky Japs hobgoblin before the public, with the help of the always amiable entertainment industry. If Bugs Bunny and the Three Stooges are telling you something is scary, you can bet it is.

In the 1950s, the great threat was nuclear war, unleashed by the Soviets, who had of course less than a decade before been our beloved ally in the war against Hitler and the Sneaky Japs. Schoolchildren of the era spent some memorable moments in “duck and cover” drills. One of my earliest memories is of my parents setting up a pretty insecure bomb shelter in our basement. Fortunately for young Baby Boomers, the Soviets proved to be more responsible with their atomic bombs than we had been when we dropped them on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In elementary school, I heard quite a bit about just how polluted our air and water was becoming. There were dire predictions of humans being unable to breathe or drink within some frighteningly short period of time, if something wasn’t done. Something, it seems, always needs to be done. I’m not sure what was done, but nobody has talked about air or water pollution for many years. I guess that Indian, with the tear trickling down his cheek on some oft aired television commercial, was crying in vain.

Environmentalists were the ones most concerned about pollution. They disappeared a while back, too. They call them climate change activists now, and they don’t seem too concerned about pollution. If they were, they might mention that whole BP Oil spill, and the even more disastrous “clean up” efforts once in a while. They don’t talk about Fukushima, either. They are only the foremost ecological disasters in modern history. But then again, you don’t hear the word ecology much any more. It’s all “climate change,” all the time.

Before “climate change,” global warming was all the rage. We were warned repeatedly that unless we…you guessed it- did something- then the glaciers would melt, the polar bears were going to die, people wouldn’t be able to go outside, etc. The Washington Post actually ran an alarmist story about this in 1922. An alternate, just as terrifying proposition, which was often trotted out simultaneously, was that we were headed for a new Ice Age. Either way, something extreme was going to happen, and it was all our fault. By “our,” I mean the common riff-raff. Anyone without any power or means. The same ones who are today, accused of causing “climate change.”

The ominous screeds of Greta Thunberg and her ilk are meant for us. Those with modest standards of living are the ones who have to lower theirs. We’re the ones who can’t drive SUVs. Or eat meat. Or run too much hot water. Luxurious baths and long showers are for the rich. They’re different from you and me, someone once said. Al Gore can set a state record with his huge electrical bill. You turn the lights off. Don’t leave the television on. It’s all part of the “new normal,” and it’s meant for you.

Celebrity entertainers have routinely flown in on their private jets, to lecture the unwashed masses about their carbon footprints. “Carbon footprint,” like “primordial ooze,” is one of those catchy, scientific phrases which no one understands, and no one really explains. I would think, for instance, that BP left a more dangerous carbon footprint behind in the oily waters of the Gulf than the collected population of America could ever hope to over the course of a lifetime. But what do I know? I’m just a community college dropout. It’s not like I’m Bill Nye “the non scientist” Science Guy.

Americans have been subjected to nonstop fear porn since at least 1898, when the Spanish were the demons of the hour. We had to do something about the dreaded Hun, the dirty Kraut, which led us into the world’s most pointless conflict- World War I. At home, the early communists and anarchists caused some sleepless nights for perpetually worried Americans. If only they’d known that their own business leaders and politicians were busily financing and supporting the Bolsheviks in Russia, at the same time they were demonizing the “Reds” in this country.

Once FDR and others began plotting to enter the new, bigger and better war in Europe, all German-Americans became suspect. A bunch of them were thrown in those interment camps that Americans associate exclusively with Japanese-Americans. And their descendants never got any reparations. They did have their businesses and homes confiscated by the U.S. government however, as did Japanese and Italian-Americans. The property was never returned. Bruno Richard Hauptman was railroaded for the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping because of public prejudice against his “kind.” What were frightened Americans supposed to do? They had to convict him, evidence be damned. They were scared. They are always scared.

The “Reds” reappeared in the Cold War era. Our citizens seamlessly converted their suspicions against Nazis and Fascists, into suspicions against Communists and “Fellow Travelers.” We want our fear, and we want it now! It really doesn’t matter what the fear is, or who it’s directed against, as long as it’s there. It’s almost become a security blanket for the Sheeple. And, of course, they are incapable of actually turning their attention to those whom they should fear, the puppet masters who orchestrate all, and distribute the fear porn like drug dealers.

In the 1980s, AIDS became the favorite boogeyman. The ‘80s were unique in that America was actually not directly involved in a war during the decade, an extremely rare set of circumstances for the land of the free. I was a young guy working at a hospital, and we were served up a heaping helping of terrifying forecasts. We were all certain we were going to breathe in some AIDS germs and die a horrible death. Oprah Winfrey looked in the camera and said something ridiculous like “it is estimated that by 1995, 80% of the world will have contracted AIDS.”

Neocon Zionists had long been attempting to warn the masses about the dangers of “terrorism,” without ever quite defining it. However, after the 9/11 psyop, we began a new kind of war, one without uniforms or even an identifiable enemy. The “war on terror” in reality became a war on civil liberties. And we all lost badly. Highlighted casualties included the First and Fourth Amendments. Americans became so scared of “terrorists” that many transferred that fear onto free speech, and the right to peacefully assemble. A fear of freedom, if you will.

In early 2020, the greatest campaign of fear ever seen took this country by force, and in fact swept over the entire world. The COVID narrative, which I call the Greatest Psyop in the History of the World, has obliterated all those previous instances. Rewritten all the record books. Basically, within a period of a week or so, the entire world was shut down and masked up. And they didn’t need a single troop or cop. Without a shot being fired, as the saying goes.

This particular fear appears to be here to stay. Sure, Vladimir Putin has become the latest in what H.L. Mencken called “an endless series of hobgoblins,” but even while mindlessly parroting the elite catch phrase, “I Stand With Ukraine,” the Sheeple continue to mask up, forego hugs and kisses, and “cancel” their unvaccinated loved ones. They aren’t letting go of this one yet. There has been more emotion invested in this particular psyop than all the others combined. It’s their Gold Standard, their Beatles, their choose your analogy.

When you can get millions of people to turn their backs on their close family members, and line up to get vaccinated repeatedly for the same thing, you know you’ve perfected your techniques. When you can get them re-frightened over “variants” with military style names, that there is no test for, then you’re just spiking the football. They do a lot of spiking the football now. And why not? There is a great deal to celebrate at Conspiracy Central. We offer about the same level of competition to them that the Washington Generals did to the Harlem Globetrotters. Of course, those games were rigged, but the game we’re losing is utterly rigged, too.

The fears that most Baby Boomers grew up with- fear of crime, especially Black crime, fear of nuclear war, pale in comparison to the all encompassing terror we are saturated in every day now. How about those random reports of an asteroid or comet that “Experts” say might come shockingly close to the Earth? That’s pretty scary. The weather in general has become a staple of the fear porn industry. Extreme weather events are touted all the time. The absurd Weather Channel couldn’t exist without these dastardly threats of death and destruction. I never remember being afraid of the weather until maybe the late 1990s. Geoengineering is a very real component of the nonstop fear industry.

Humans have enough fear to deal with without an evil elite agenda to keep them cowed and compliant. We all pretty much fear death. Almost everyone has some kind of phobia; fear of darkness, or claustrophobia, vertigo, etc. We definitely don’t need bogeymen and hobgoblins added to the mix. But that’s all we get from our leaders. They never offer us hope, or implement necessary and significant reforms. They will present an exaggerated or imaginary threat, and propose a response that usually involves taking more money and liberty from the public. Problem. Action. Solution.

Much of organized religion is still based on fear. “Burn in Hell!” Bible-thumping sermons built around fire and brimstone. As a Catholic youth, I felt I was sinning whenever I did practically anything enjoyable. Catholic guilt is a very real thing. I still have issues from my wayward youth, and fear the wrath of God for my actions and my thoughts at the time. Remember Jimmy Carter confessing to “lusting in his heart” and how that’s apparently as bad as actual lust. If our fantasies are as bad as our deeds, then Hell is going to be a very crowded place.

So here we are, in this Orwellian time and place, mindful of countless things to spook us further. The deadly virus, which is now with us always, and promises more “surges” and “strains” to come. And then there’s the new bird flu, which they might use as a replacement medical hobgoblin. Scared to hug our loved ones. The True Believers cancelling relationships with the Unvaccinated. Keep your masks handy. Prepare to go back into lockdown mode when you are instructed to.

If the deadly virus wanes a bit, there are plenty of other options on the fear menu. Beware hurricane season- we could be looking at a Category 5! If you’re in California or an area prone to earthquakes, always be watching for the Big One. That could suck you right down into the earth. Or perhaps a Tsunami is more your style? No warning, just a giant tidal wave to wash you away from the vale of tears in an instant. Kind of like that giant asteroid that we all know is coming.

Who knows? Maybe they’ll just go back to the tried and true method of going to war to stop the latest foreign madman. It worked pretty well during the first two World Wars. A lot of people seem to be craving a third one. One thing is certain; there will be no peace of mind in this existence. We’re counseled to “stay in the moment” by self-help gurus, but they make it impossible not to be fretting over the horrific things the future probably holds, let alone brooding about a past that was also laced with fear.

I don’t know what the antidote to all this fear is, beyond replacing everyone in charge with reasonable and sane people. And then we’d still be left with our own personal baggage full of phobias. Maybe embrace the fear, like teenagers do during the big drops on rollercoasters, or while watching a horror movie. Or at least acknowledge it’s there, being peddled by fearmongers who have no conscience. Stop pretending that it’s normal and justifiable to keep the public in a perpetual state of panic. They have an agenda, and it certainly isn’t to protect you or keep you safe.

H.P. Lovecraft wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Plato reminded us that “the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” We must keep the light shined on their corruption, which includes an industry of fear. They want to keep us in figurative chains, frightened to rebel because of all the imaginary bogeymen they have created. As Martin Luther King said on the night before he died, “I’m not fearing any man.” We should never fear corrupt and incompetent human beings.