This is something that governments the world over have long known. Fear is ubiquitous and is wielded with seeming impunity.

Working in concert with the mainstream media, a dire picture of threat to life and limb is painted daily and fed into lounge rooms in the battle for hearts and minds.

The goal is not only to keep us living in fear, but also to reinforce our trust in the mechanisms that “keep us safe”, the police, the military, and the covert spy organisations such as ASIO, whose modus operandi is to infiltrate and subvert community organisations, especially those formed to counter the very worst examples of excess by their governments, ensuring that the status quo is maintained.

The heavily edited and sanitised propaganda that serves as mainstream news is packaged and presented like any TV show. The “terrorist” caravan at Dural, is an example of an obviously staged media event, whipped up to generate fear of an imminent terrorist attack, with only the quick action by the government and the police preventing a major catastrophe.

Except that it wasn’t.

Was this yet another ploy to enable the passing of even more laws further criminalising protest? Just like the farcical bombing of the Hilton saga – ultimately demonstrated to be an almost certainly bungled ASIO plot, one that failed miserably to paint the Ananda Marga as a terrorist cell, and to provide us with yet another reason to be fearful.

The huge march across the Harbour Bridge in appalling weather, an event designed to bring the public’s attention to the plight of the brutally oppressed Palestinian people, was successfully subverted by Chris Minn’s NSW Labor Government when they played the fear card. In spite of the win in the Supreme Court, the government was still able to achieve its desired outcome.

The police were instructed not to let the hundreds of thousands gather outside the US Consulate-General’s premises in Miller Street, North Sydney. In turning the massive crowd back on itself, they prevented what would have been an even bigger international embarrassment to Zionist Israel, the Australian Government and the US. And in so doing, the NSW Government deliberately created a potentially dangerous situation, ironically putting the “public’s safety” in jeopardy – the very reason given to initially reject the application.

Trump’s attacks on the Democratic states, California and Washington, alleging non-existent rampant crime, demonstrate the use of fear to achieve a political end. The ultra-right are well versed in this and are prominent in the delivery of their weaponised version of the “news” on Foxtel via their Sky News platform. They are at present heavily plugging an app, FOMBN, (fear of missing breaking news), designed to jump on the social media bandwagon in the hope of winning over the generation Z – those who aren’t plugged into the mainstream, the group most likely to access alternate media.

The longstanding demonisation of the union movement is orchestrated to silence organised opposition to those who have control over our purse strings. The ever expanding underclass of working poor is another effective tool designed to keep the majority silent, to prevent people from uniting, ensuring that there is neither free time nor energy to devote towards understanding the forces that control us all.

Enterprise bargaining agreements often contain clauses that prevent employees from speaking out. Publicly raising in-house or political concerns can, and does, often lead to dismissal. Denied real information and hunted into “apathy”, fear keeps us all in line.

The mania on both sides of politics for infinite growth on a planet with finite resources, one that is struggling to feed its ever expanding billions, is a clear and unambiguous definition of insanity. The climate crisis is the biggest challenge that we as a species have ever faced. Yet obscenely wealthy, high-profile, climate deniers like the mineral rich Gina Rinehart still exist, and are continually given airtime to denigrate and ridicule those who dare to point out the folly of prioritising resource depleting and polluting jobs over protection of the environment.

Adani’s promised billions in revenue from the massive 60 million tonne Carmichael coal mine haven’t materialised. Nor have the guaranteed 10,000 jobs, with less than 1500 employed. And not a single cent has been paid in revenue to the government, citing paper losses of about $500 million. Concerns over threats to the reef, the wildlife and the habitat of the black-throated finch have proven to be accurate. Yet the recently elected Queensland Government has just approved Carmichael’s expansion.

Religions teach us that humans are imperfect, flawed. We’re designed that way. It’s right, fitting and proper for us to persevere in this vale of tears, and our obsequiousness will finally be rewarded once our “real” life begins in heaven. The promise of both reward and retribution in the after-life keeps far too many of us dutifully constrained and disengaged – yet another manifestation of weaponised fear.

Humans are the only species who continue to deliberately foul the nest. Those of us aware that we are being manipulated have come to the realisation that neither the Left nor the Right, however they choose to brand themselves, have any desire to alter the current way of doing business. Even when the very existence of the planet is threatened, it’s almost impossible to hear the voice of sanity. The silent majority remain silenced.

Those who do risk derision and reprisal, by telling the world that our emperors indeed have no clothes, are the truly courageous ones. So raise up your voice and speak out with them, for a life lived in fear is a life half-lived.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.