The Time of Fear - Grace Cowan
Copyright 2024 Grace Cowan
Transcript
Hi, it's Grace Cowan, and this is Frogmore Stew
Jamie Harrison, who lost his Senate bid here in South Carolina to Lindsey Graham had a story he told on the campaign trail. It was a story from when he was going door to door in the state many years ago, and he knocked on the door of an old man's house who lived out in the country on a dirt road. He asked the man if he would vote. The man said, Son, do you see that dirt road you drove up on?
Jaime [:I said, yes, sir. He said, what kind of road is that? I said, it's a dirt road. He said, son, that was a dirt road when Ronald Reagan was president. It was a dirt road when both the Bushes were president. It was a dirt road when Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were president. Son, that's still a goddamn dirt road. And until either a Democrat or a Republican paves my road, I don't want to deal with any of it. The most important thing to this man was his dirt road.
Grace [:Jamie goes on to say that that man had lost hope, hope in our government, and hope that any politician was really doing anything to actually improve the country. So, if we've lost hope, what's replaced it?
Fear. This is the time of fear.
Reporter [: n psychological Association's: Grace [:Maintaining people's interest in politics week after week, month after month requires convincing them that the stakes are always huge. That they're inescapable and irreversible.
News Clips [:This is the most important election in the history of our country. This election is the most important in the modern history of this country. There are just eight days left in what is the most important election of our lifetime. I, I truly believe this is the most important election of our lifetime.
Grace [:So, if you're a Democrat, you fear Trump. You fear racism. You fear Moms4Liberty, January 6 ers. You fear for women's reproductive freedom. You fear book bans, the destruction of our planet, and you fear that democracy is going to be demolished.
[: [: [: Reporter [:Using logic and reason can help you make fewer judgment error. Do you support a candidate because they make you feel safe about a particular issue that scares you? The candidate may be using fear appeals to manipulate your behavior. Overcome this by looking at how a candidate aligns with your beliefs.
Grace [:We have to understand the history and its trajectory to where we are now. We have to view where we are through the lens of how we got here. And we have to understand each issue and the complexities of the issues. We don't have the luxury of only reading headlines. We have to distinguish real problems rather than solutions in search of a problem. Which also means knowing the deliberate and strategic ways in which our fears are being exploited.
[: [: [:Announcer: Frogmore Stew with Garce Cowan is produced and directed by T. J. Phillips with the Podcast Solutions Network.
