Fear

Fear is a great motivator and those who lived through the Cold War can vouch for that. For 40 years the threat of mutually assured destruction (MAD) had people building bomb shelters, kept students hiding under their desk and cause countries to spend trillions on defense. Adding to this was the fear of a nuclear accident that caused the world to turn against nuclear power. Groups like Green Peace literally ended the ear of nuclear power only to find out that today it is coming back. Next came the existential threat of climate change which forced governments to move away from fossil fuels and toward renewables. Then came lesser groups like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter (BLM). In the case of BLM, Geroge Floyd was killed by police and this led to riots. He was a man with severe health problems and a long criminal career but was not given his day in court. The result was five months of riots in 2,000 cities in the US and around the world, $2 billion in property damage, 14,000 arrest and 25 deaths. In the end some police departments changed their procedures and cut their budgets while some of the leaders of BLM absconded with funds meant to improve the situation. Changes and reactions based on emotions, like fear, often get side tracked by misinformation and lies. Objectivity gets thrown out the window as news people capitalize on issues to gain viewers. Today some fear that a king will replace our democracy and others fear that socialism will replace capitalism. In a few years these fears will be gone and replaced with new ones.