Book Excerpt: ‘The Democratic Politics of Fear’

Extract from “The Democratic Politics of Fear,” Chapter 7 in the newly expanded  book “Canada’s COVID: The Story of a Pandemic Moral Panic” (February 2023) by Barry Cooper and Marco Navarro-Génie.

This article examines the evidence supporting and the consequences of fear-inducing government actions that lead to distrust. It was not the outcome that authorities expected. The game plan of the authorities was simple: instill fear, and then promise safety to those who follow their instructions. The most obvious commonsensical conclusion is that governments, experts, and moral entrepreneurs were not themselves afraid so much as manipulative and filled with the expectation that they could bring about their own predictions—the very definition of living in the magic world of a second reality.

This explanation seemed particularly plausible at the COVID-19 end, with the Invoking the Emergencies Act in early 2022 in order to handle the truckers Freedom Convoy and other acts civil disobedience near the U.S. Border. However, other patterns or responses indicated that both the government and the main media, along with experts and bureaucrats were all experiencing a second reality in which normal emotions such as fear, cowardice and bravery as well as acts of obedience, defiance, provided an opportunity for more actions.

At the very least, let us start from common sense. Fear created the social and political contexts that allowed for the emergence of the fear phenomenon. “new normal,” to use a familiar cliché, has created a regime of truth (and not just in Canada) where mathematical models of infection rates have been followed by state directives, action plans, emergency measures, government health communiqués, legal or constitutional modifications, rearrangements of powers for enforcers, speeches, and regular television appearances organized as briefings by politicians. This talk introduced a technical vocabulary into the public conversation previously reserved for experts. Before the epidemic, people were not able to discuss topics. “comorbidities,” For example, “asymptomatic transmission.” The new language has been adopted as a standard in both public and private conversations. Even though it was far removed from reality, such language and expression became accepted quickly as an authoritative form of knowledge.

These medical professionals were able to give advice on how and when to use them.