How fear has dictated the course of human history

2023-09-18 18:12:00, Blog CNA

One of the best selling books of all time has been about witches. It was essentially a manual explaining how to identify, capture, torture, extract confessions from, and ultimately kill Satan's (Devil's) handmaidens.

Published in 1486, Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches' Hammer) is said to have sold more copies over the next two centuries than the Bible itself. As Robert Peckham, a fellow at the Royal Historical Society in London, writes in the book "Fear: An Alternative History of the World", anxiety about witches was born out of ignorance.

Knowing nothing about germs, people thought that misfortunes such as disease were caused by magic. However, their fear could be manipulated for political purposes. Catholicism split in the 16th century, and the Pope and various Protestant clergy fought for religious power.

Extermination of witches was a useful way for an earthly ruler to show which side he was on: God's, not the Devil's. Fear is a primary and necessary emotion. Pekam calls it "a neurobiological process that keeps us alive." If our ancestors weren't afraid of cliff tops or tigers, we might not be here today. Meanwhile, since humans are a communicative and imaginative species, fear can also be created by whispers under the voice.

His book sheds light on the many ways in which fear has shaped human behavior over the past 700 years , from which readers can draw lessons for the present. The main lesson is: "Power depends on fear". Pekam argues that the upheavals of
the Reformation and Counter-Reformation arose in part from the Catholic Church's loss of its "monopoly on fear" in Western Europe. For 1,000 years she had convinced people that she alone held the keys to the afterlife.

And he took advantage of people's fear of eternal torment by making money through the sale of indulgences. When Martin Luther rebelled against such abuses, many people were moved by his theological arguments. Most of this book was written during the
Covid-19 pandemic, so the author naturally reflects on the fear of the infection in question and its manipulation by the powerful.

When Europe was affected by the Black Death, rumors spread that non-popular minorities, such as Jews, Muslims, the poor, lepers, and foreigners, could be "malicious carriers of the infection." Therefore, there was a terrible persecution against them. Horrified by the social unrest fueled
by the plague, the ruling class was happy to direct popular anger at targets other than themselves.

Por disa kishin edhe motive të tjera. Kështu, Peshkopi i Strasburgut, që dogji 2000 hebrenj në turrën e druve brenda një dite në vitin 1349, u detyrohej shuma të mëdha parash tregtarëve hebrenj. Covid-19 ishte më pak i tmerrshëm se Vdekja e Zezë. Mjekësia ka përparuar gjatë shekujve, por natyra njerëzore ka ndryshuar më pak. Frika nga koronavirusi nxiti të gjitha llojet e teorive konspirative. Shumë qeveri përfituan nga paniku për të kufizuar liritë civile. Teksa jetonte në Hong Kong, Pekam vuri re sesi Partia Komuniste Kineze e përdori virusin si një justifikim për të ndaluar protestat pro-demokracisë në vitet 2019-2020.

Libri tregon sa e lehtë është që të nxitin terrorin gënjeshtarët e guximshëm. Siç e tha dikur Herman Gëring, kreu i aviacionit në kohën e Adolf Hitlerit: “Gjithçka që duhet të bëni është t’i tregoni popullit se po sulmohen dhe të denoncosh pacifistët për mungesë patriotizmi dhe
ekspozimin e vendit ndaj rrezikut. Kjo qasje funksionon njëlloj në çdo vend”. Po ashtu, nazistët promovuan alarmimin mjedisor, duke pretenduar se një mungesë e afërt e ushqimit e justifikonte pushtimin e vendeve fqinje.

Një nga kundërhelmet më të mira ndaj frikës është humori. Luteri përdori një formë të re të komunikimit masiv për të tallur Papën: shtypshkronjën. Karikaturat e përshkruanin Romën si një bordello, me kardinalët që dilnin nga pas shpinës së Djallit dhe Papën hipur mbi një derr. E qeshura mund të qetësojë frikën dhe të dëmtojë autoritetin.Salman Rushdie is only mentioned in passing in the book, but he deserves more space. In 1988, he published a novel that satirized many figures, including Ayatollah Khomeini, the despot of Iran. Khomeini called on Muslims to kill the author, citing what he considered a blasphemous depiction of the prophet Muhammad. Last year a fanatic stabbed the writer in New York, gouging out one of his eyes. Khomeini died in 1989, but the terror he instigated lives on. "The Economist" / Adapted from CNA