Fear Funded That!
Fear pays.
That's the advice of former FBI assistant director Thomas Fuentes, via PrivacySOS:
If you're submitting budget proposals for a law enforcement agency, for an intelligence agency, you're not going to submit the proposal that 'We won the war on terror and everything's great,' cuz the first thing that's gonna happen is your budget's gonna be cut in half. You know, it's my opposite of Jesse Jackson's 'Keep Hope Alive'--it's 'Keep Fear Alive.' Keep it alive.
via @normative
Just like the news (any news, any network)...
"WHAT ARE THEY PUTTING IN YOUR HAMBURGER....TONIGHT AT 11"
And of course "Snowmageddon" which they were even talking about on local news down here in FL. Of course, since it seems like half the population of NJ, NY, and MA is down here this time of year...
DrCos at January 28, 2015 3:51 AM
Private businesses blowing up events is one thing.
Government funding shouldn't be given on bullshit proposals.
Amy Alkon at January 28, 2015 6:04 AM
Fear sells, and unusual sells. Boring ho-hum normal ? Who cares.
That's the modus operandi in our instant-response "somebody must DO something" society we've evolved. . .
Keith Glass at January 28, 2015 6:11 AM
Of course, since it seems like half the population of NJ, NY, and MA is down here this time of year...
At least they're not damnyankees...
I R A Darth Aggie at January 28, 2015 7:22 AM
Amy thinks other people are making a career out of nourishing fear.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 28, 2015 10:33 AM
Regardless of anyone's beliefs pro or con re: global warming, it's a reason why I discount the argument "Pentagon says Global Warming Threatens National Security".
jerry at January 28, 2015 10:57 AM
Everything politicians (and bureaucrats) do is based on fear.
"If we don't fund the police enough, criminals will take over and kill us!" Of course, "if we fund them too much, the police will rampage our neighborhoods and kill us...every 28 minutes!"
Fear of poverty funds social welfare programs as well as politicians who oppose these programs ("pay too much in taxes and you'll go broke while welfare queens sip champagne in their Cadillacs").
And then there's the news media throwing gasoline on the fire. Modern news media exists not to inform us, but to terrify us.
Conan the Grammarian at January 28, 2015 11:01 AM
Crid, welcome back.
Canvasback at January 28, 2015 6:16 PM
Don't blame law enforcement agencies-any agency does this. DOT uses infrastructure fears of falling bridges, the local waterworks uses fear of running out of water, education agencies use fear of other countries co-opting our poorly educated kids as cheap labor, government uses our fear of large medical bills.....every agency's (organism's) primary purpose quickly becomes propagating itself and increasing it's standard of living. The problem is too much government. Focusing on law enforcement's use of this tactic is missing the forest for the dandelion.
momof4 at January 28, 2015 7:57 PM
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