Fear is profitable. Media companies want engagement and fear drives engagement. Wannabe leaders need followers. Fear draws followers. Fear-based messaging is nearly twice as effective as messaging that fails to stir that emotion.3 Fear is motivating. It motivates us to shut our minds, hearts, and hands. It makes us smaller. More insecure. As Cherie Harder put it, “Dwelling on fear and outrage is spiritually deforming.”4 It’s spiritually deforming because fear entices us to place our faith in the person, party, or platform that promises to protect us from whatever they’ve convinced us we should
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