Fear-driven groups become the very threat they fear
Evidence
White Christian nationalism encourages us to live as though our power and privilege are under threat. When living and acting out of a place of fear, we tend to do whatever is necessary to protect power and privilege, even jettisoning central aspects of the Christian faith. We begin to treat others the way we fear they are going to treat us—a group that limits others’ civil liberties and rights. We become what we most fear. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 417
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Most people treat power as a zero-sum contest between groups. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 224; For the privileged, equality can feel like discrimination — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 192; Shrinking groups become more salient and vocal, not less (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- Each community’s insecurity targets the other as the threat
#expands(0.85) - Perceiving a group as powerful and malevolent rationalizes extreme violence as self-defense
#expands(0.80) - Dominant groups use systematic terror most ferociously when subordinates challenge them
#exemplifies(0.80) - External threat makes groups punish their own deviants harder
#exemplifies(0.75) — Walter G. Stephan, Oscar Ybarra, Kimberly Rios Morrison, Intergroup Threat Theory, 21 - Political fear generalizes intimate fears into societal threats and loops back.
#corroborates(0.70) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 202