Is HOPE > FEAR? Which is Stronger? Hope or Fear?

[Dems Will Win]

Hillary and the GOP play the politics of FEAR, while Obama is the politics of HOPE.

is

HOPE > FEAR?

Hillary's last ad starts off with "A Country At War" and plays the Fear Card from there. Will that trump Obama the Hope Fiend?

Which is more powerful, given an equal delivery to the voter?

HOPE? or FEAR?

[OneGrassRoot]

1. I think that's a great question

IMHO, fear comes more easily and quickly...the proverbial knee-jerk reaction.

Hope takes more effort to tap into, though it's lying dormant within most of us.

I think the strength of one's personal character determines whether you make choices based on fear or choices based on hope.

[OHdem10]

2. I have not heard Hilary play the politics of fear.

She does recognize danger in the world. This cannot be ignaored
by any serious candidate.

Being Hapless, everything is fine--just hope is not a position
of strength.

[Dems Will Win]

3. Here is the last Hillary ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QaDUDN0G1k

[silverojo]

4. Could she be any less specific?

All soft-focus images, no substance.

[mondo joe]

5. I HOPE to have a president not in the pockets of religious extremists.

I'm not so sure about Obama in that regard.

[patrice]

6. The biology of evolution would favor the response that contributes the most

to survival. That would be Fear.

[Dems Will Win]

9. Ah! A vote for FEAR

[patrice]

14. It's the soil in which Bush's base is rooted, ergo the Republican "success".

Most universal, most deeply hard-wired human response there is, Fear.

[GrannyK]

7. Hope is the message of intelligence and life.

Hope is the belief that a solution can be found and then begins to actively work in that direction.

When we do not understand something we fear it. When we fear something we come to hate it. Whatever we hate we ultimately want to kill or destroy.

Hope takes courage, intelligence and a belief that seemingly dangerous obstacles can be transformed into bridges of understanding and positive change.

Fear plays to the baseness of our nature and holds un in the cave of despair.

Hope speaks to our higher selves and inspires us to reach for new levels of greatness.

I, for one, will always follow where hope leads.

[leftofthedial]

8. Fear works much faster than hope, at least in marketing

Hope is much more fragile and considerably much more remote to the ordinary person's current life experience

[Dems Will Win]

11. So a vote for FEAR? Yes? No?

[leftofthedial]

15. Fear can be overcome much more easily than hope

fear is to hope as quantity is to quality

[Marrah_G]

10. At first I thought your post might be interesting from the title

Sadly it was just another nasty and juvenile attack post. You do nothing to help your chosen candidate by posting this crap- all you like is a bitter taste in people's mouths.

[durrrty libby]

13. So true and they get so damn boring. Typical unoriginal clap trap bull shit

:boring:

[Beelzebud]

12. Watch The Power of Nightmares.

[pitohui]

16. fear is stronger, it's a basic instinctive emotion common to all animal life

hope is more subtle and hence more cruel, in the story of pandora, the last evil let out of the box was "hope" because "hope" causes us to endure evils we wouldn't otherwise tolerate

oh, wait, this thread is about slamming OUR democratic candidates, not a serious discussion of how to market them, why am i not surprised?

[LanternWaste]

17. Seems to me that both candidates...

"Hillary and the GOP play the politics of FEAR, while Obama is the politics of HOPE."

Seems to me that both candidates use both tactics. Of course it's all subjective, but since I've neither chosen nor ruled out a candidate yet, I haven't invested my psyche into overlooking or dismissing negativity of either party mentioned in the OP.


That being said...

I actually thought I was about to read an analytical discussion of Hope versus Fear in the context of the Here and Now, rather than another too-clever-by-half attempt at denigrating a Democratic candidate.

Oh well, maybe after the primaries are over we can go back to substantive discussions... :shrug:

[PA Democrat]

18. I think it depends upon the individual.

People who want an authoritative "daddy" figure to look after them will usually respond more to fear than hope.

I think that where it makes a big difference is in outcome. Hope is always a greater catalyst for progress than is fear. People who live in fear don't take chances, will accept the status quo even if it is far from ideal, and will even give up their civil liberties, as we have seen.

[H2O Man]

19. Good question.

The human brain is hard-wired for a certain amount of anxiety, which helped us survive in the early environments that we inhabited. Anxiety led our ancestors to recognize that many situations were potentially dangerous, and when they encountered those situations, they felt fear -- which resulted in heightened awareness.

There is, of course, a significant difference between being anxious about snakes and piranas when crossing a river in the Amazon basin, and fearing snakes and piranas while crossing a street in Chicago. One heightens awareness; the other smoothers it.

Kings and tyrants throughout history have known that unnatural fears lead to hatred, and that as long as they can keep a population fearful, and manipulate that so that they fear a common enemy, the population will be as numb to their own suffering as if they had been injected with novocaine.

It is no coincidence that the great teachers in human history have had a consistent message: Do not be afraid.

[Dems Will Win]

23. Ah this is so true.

It is no coincidence that the great teachers in human history have had a consistent message: Do not be afraid.

[Dems Will Win]

25. Fear is the Fight or Flight of the Reptilian Brain, Hope is generated from the higher Human part of

the brain.

[Dems Will Win]

28. Kant or Neitzsche?

Idealism or the Will to Power?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M-cmNdiFuI

[Didereaux]

20. Fear is stronger and more endorphin(opiate)...why so there are so many...

touchy-feely dipwads around. bunch of fuckin druggies, thats what!

lol

[napi21]

21. FEAR! Fear of any kind is an inborn gut reaction in humans &

animals. Hope is something we all SHOULD and would like to have, but some people can't or won't feel it.

[tomg]

22. Generally, if you are a progressive,

then it is hope for what can be that is going to motivate you; if you are conservative, it is fear of what could happen. Quite honestly, there are times when we should show great concern and others when a sense of our own potential is needed.

Right now, I don't think we need either hope or fear to motivate us. I am up for righteous anger. We need to support someone who is willing to kick the hell out of these corporatist, neocon, and fundy shits who have stolen our country, our constitution, and our futures from us.

[silverweb]

24. I'm counting on Hope.

:)

[bullwinkle428]

26. Obama specifically uses the phrase "Our country is at war!"

in one of his most recent campaign commercials in Iowa!! The main reason I made a mental note of this was that it resulted in me yelling back at the TV, "Stop buying into the Republican talking points, Barack - call it an occupation, which is the actual truth!"

[Dems Will Win]

27. OK - Thanks for that