States manufacture paranoia so the public welcomes the very power that created the anxiety

Evidence

People generally choose safety. This is not a trait unique to members of any race or religion. People want safety and security for themselves, but also for their families. And giving people what they want is certainly a route to power. Nations like to have leaders who are strong protectors. And for all of recorded history, opportunists like Trump have understood that they can rise on promises to protect their people from imagined threats just as much as from real ones. — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 329 (#expands, via linked claim)

The end goal is to win consent for an imperial agenda through a process that orchestrates fear of the enemy within and preempts criticisms of empire-building. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 491 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Revolutionary terror designed to discredit the state often backfires into sympathy for the state. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1523; Public warnings can provoke the panic they seek to avoid. — Cohen, Stanley, Folk devils and moral panics: the…, 617; Anxious citizens welcomed surveillance rather than having it imposed (+10 more)

Related

• Politicians gain power by promising protection against imagined threats (similarity 0.85)
• Manufactured terrorist threats serve governance by keeping citizens fearful and quiescent (similarity 0.82)
• Terrorism fear uniquely suits political manipulation because it resists quick fixes (similarity 0.82)
• Fear mongering is the key mechanism that sustains vast imperial infrastructure (similarity 0.80)
• Protective powers actively maintain their subjects’ vulnerability, not merely respond to it. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Anxious citizens welcomed surveillance rather than having it imposed #exemplifies (0.80)
• Politicians gain power by promising protection against imagined threats #expands (0.75) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 329
• Fear of an internal enemy is manufactured to secure consent for empire #corroborates (0.72) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 491
• Public warnings can provoke the panic they seek to avoid. #corroborates (0.70) — Cohen, Stanley, Folk devils and moral panics, 617
• Sustained terror normalizes precaution until fear becomes habit #expands (0.65) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1583
• Terrorism fear uniquely suits political manipulation because it resists quick fixes #expands (0.60)
• Repeated media coverage can create a self-fulfilling atmosphere of fear. #expands (0.55) — Cohen, Stanley, Folk devils and moral panics, 641
• Exhaustive bureaucratic planning can create false psychological closure about danger #corroborates (0.50) — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 49