Is it true that: That the people to be the most frightened of are the people who are the most frightened?

[noname223]

I read this some weeks ago in a book. I think I am probably one of the most frightened people I know. I have very high anxiety. I worry so much. Should people be really frightened about me? I think the worst thing I will probably do is killing myself. I don't have the intention to hurt other people.

Of course if you read this quote you think about Hitler. Putin or Mussolini. Were these people really frightened? Maybe it is not good to make remote diagnosis. But Hitler obviously had severe mental problems. I can't really judge about it.

I think maybe it was part of their motivation. Putin is frightened about losing his power. His whole system is shaped to increase the anxiety in the population. Everyone shall be scared to tell the truth. I think many dictator are pretty paranoid to die. They kill millions of people but their main concern is their own well-being. I know Stalin had a lot doppelgänger (what a beautiful German word) / doubles.

I can't really make a final judgment. It is probably no law and there also exceptions I assume.

 

[Pluto]

Sounds like a statement that might apply in some situations more than others.

Politically, it can be said that fear is a dangerous source of motivation, particularly when it escalates to paranoia. The underlying ideology of Nazism, one of fearing annihilation therefore let's annihilate them all first, is a powerful historical example. Perhaps we can also reconsider the Cold War, in which both sides were so afraid of the other that the result was massive global proliferation of nuclear weapons that could easily trigger mass devastation to all sides.

How this applies in interpersonal situations is far less clear. As a trainer, I always found myself having to gently encourage people who were afraid of failing. Presumably this is a role that therapists take more broadly. I don't think I'd feel comfortable conflating the rhetoric of members of extremist groups with regular people struggling with anxiety.

 

[Velvet Fortress]

Yeah, Pluto is right, I think it highly depends on what we are talking about. The average person living in terror due to PTSD for exemple is probably the least dangerous person out there. A truly terrorized individual avoids and keeps to themselves.

When we are talking about aggression born out of fear, I think the problem is more about how one learns to respond to fear. Narcissistic personality disorder, as opposed to say generalized anxiety disorder, is a good example of fear turned bad pushed to the extreme. When your defence mechanism becomes hurting others before they hurt you. Maybe that is where that idea comes from.

But fear is not necessarily the biggest factor in hostility and evil either. Psychopathy has nothing to do with fear. It's all lack of empathy. I think that's the key when considering who to be wary of, when some mechanism succeeds in stripping you of your empathy. The nazis were effective because they de-huminized minorities in the eyes of the masses to the point where it was extremely difficult for the average german to feel empathy toward them

 

[T90-Alpha]

Everyone has insecurities about themselves. some people try to hide them by bullying others, to look tough
some people like to bottle up their insecurities (most people here probably do, just like me)
we are all human, we all have our own flaws, that we try to hide