Appeal to fear Discussion Post 3

Appeal to fear is a way politicians, and advertisers manipulate people. Appeal to fear is bad if it is substituted for one legitimate concern for others, clouding over mind to alternatives. Fear is a basic motivator that is used surprisingly often. The danger of using this is that it can also lead to other irrational emotions that can rebound upon the persuader, such as dislike and hate. Fear also results in people running away, but not always in the direction intended. Fear appeals seldom gain more than compliance. Emotional and intellectual agreement will lag far behind and may never be gained. Appeals to fear work on our emotions and our general lack of ability to understand risk. They work by:

1. Identifying a threat
2. Offering a prevention;
3. Convincing others that the prevention will be effective;
4. Convincing others that they are capable of facilitating the recommended prevention.

Example:

1. Vaccines harm children.
   
   True. There is always a risk that a child will have an adverse reaction to a vaccine.
2. What is the level of risk?
   
   The chance of a vaccine causing an adverse reaction is generally several million to one against.
3. The prevention: do not vaccinate your child.
   
   The chances of adverse reactions to disease are generally thousands of times greater than in vaccinated children.
4. The prevention measure actually increases the risk by a factor of several thousand.
   
   This appeal to fear is a fallacious one.