Fear Plays Role in Politics

The use of fear is a key strategic instrument in political campaigns, according to Alex Castellanos, a Republican media consultant and Institute of Politics Fellow who hosted a discussion on the subject on Friday. Three days after the 2008 presidential election, the talk centered on the ways that television campaign advertisements play on voters’ fears.

Castellanos, who has been responsible for creating numerous television campaign ads, said that fear is both an important and necessary part of politics.

“We need more fear in politics,” he said.

He analogized the use of negative ads in campaigns to warning calls in dangerous situations, equating it to “yell[ing], ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theater when there is fire.”

Castellanos entertained the audience and exemplified the use of fear in politics with television ad clips from various campaigns.

“Every time we [Republicans] go back to 9/11 in New York, we lead the people back to the feeling of security threats...Every time Democrats talk about Katrina, Bush’s number goes down. Fear takes us back to the emotional experience we had back then,” he said.

But he also suggested that the use of fear in campaigns is more implicit than overt.

“The only one who’s ever accused of using fear tactics in a campaign is the guy who loses, and that’s a rule,” he said.

Attendee Andrew Velo-Arias ’11 voiced his agreement with Catellanos, saying that fear tactics in a campaign are only effective if they are not discovered as what they are.

“If you get to the point where you are detached to describe it as fear, then it’s not very effective,” he said. “But an attack that works is not an attack at all, it’s a hard hitting issues ad about your opponents records of shame.”

Castellanos also discussed the concern of crossing the acceptable point in negative campaigning. He credited the public as the ultimate “jury” in deciding what this limit is.

Not everyone in attendance said they agreed with Castellanos on the extensive use of fear in campaigns.

“The way that campaigns use [fear] is out of context. To instigate fear, they have to exaggerate something that’s really not there,” Scott H. Reed ’12 said.

But Velo-Arias shared his firsthand observation of fear tactics.

“One of the reasons why Cuban Americans generally vote Republican is there’s a fear of big government and fear of change,” he said. “That’s something they played on a lot back home in Miami to the Cuban American community.”