Amidst the tumult of all the crazy stories that have played out in the newswires over the past eighteen months, you may be forgiven for not seeing (or not paying sufficient attention to) this particular doozy: the UK government openly admits that they tried to scare the public into complying with their lockdowns and COVID mandates. More specifically, members of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviour (SPI-B) have confessed that the group's tactics of using fear-based messaging to scare the public into submission "smacks of totalitariansism" and is "not an ethical stance for any modern government." If you have the sneaking submission that there's more to this story than what was furtively reported on in the MSM, then you'll want to read this book. Dodsworth's timely treatise goes through the history of UK government efforts to psychologically manipulate its citizens and connects the various dots between government COVID mandates, SPI-B's fear-based messaging, and seemingly "independent" campaigns designed to induce paranoia and panic over coronavirus amongst the general public. ~ James Corbett
This is a book about fear. Fear of a virus. Fear of death. Fear of losing our jobs, our democracy, our human connections, our health and our minds. It's also about how the government weaponised our fear against us – supposedly in our best interests – until we were one of the most frightened countries in the world.But why did the government deliberately frighten us? How has this affected us as individuals and as a country? Who is involved in the decision-making that affects our lives? How are behavioural science and nudge theory being used to subliminally manipulate us? How does the media leverage fear? What are the real risks to our wellbeing?Ahead of any official inquiry into the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Laura Dodsworth explores all these questions and more, in a nuanced and thought-provoking discussion of an extraordinary year in British life and politics. With stories from members of the general public who were impacted by fear, anxiety and isolation, and revealing interviews with psychologists, politicians, scientists, lawyers, Whitehall advisers and journalists, A State of Fear calls for a more hopeful, transparent and effective democracy.
