Modern centralized infrastructure multiplies the psychological intimidation of any single destructive act

Evidence

The fourth feature that contributes to a heightened sense of personal and societal vulnerability is the highly centralized nature of essential service systems in modern life. When populations were more widely dispersed, the consequences of any given aggressive act were confined mainly to the persons against whom the behavior was directed. However, with increasing urbanization, the welfare of millions of people depends on the smooth functioning of intricate, interdependent service systems. A single destructive act can instantly harm vast numbers of people and frighten many more by disrupting communications, transportation, and electricity or contaminating water and food supplies. The combination of unpredictability, grave consequences, perceived inability to protect oneself, and vulnerable interdependence is especially intimidating and socially constraining (Bandura, 1997). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2113

Categorization

• XREF: Provides the structural precondition — diffuse vulnerability creating anxiety that, per the vault’s claims, politicians then exploit to win support for Islamophobic/authoritarian policy. — connects to: Centralized infrastructure makes modern populations radically more vulnerable to single attacks.
• QUESTION: Does this centralized-vulnerability framing presuppose or strengthen the moral-panic thesis — that anxiety arises from perceived systemic fragility rather than actual risk distribution?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2113