A State of Fear

In the 1983 Falklands war, Brian Hanrahan became famous for a phrase he used when reporting on British fighter plane sorties. While people anxiously watched his TV news to see if our pilots returned safely, he would say:

I counted them all out, and I counted them all back

It was a way of circumventing censorship. What I noticed at the time, was a subtext appearing on our TV screens saying something to the effect that, 'this report was prepared according to Ministry of Defence guidance.' We immediately understood the reports was air-brushed to give us a desired MOD message - that it was, in fact, propaganda. We were told as much.

Reading Laura Dodsworth's book 'A State of Fear: how the UK government weaponised fear during the COVID-19 pandemic' my eyes were opened to what the Free Speech Union described as 'censorious' guidance issued by OFCOM in their Note to Broadcasters on 23 March 2020. This was the same day the government announced Lockdown in pursuit of its declaration of a 'war' on the virus. However, unlike during the Falklands war, broadcasters never signalled to us that their output is censored or propaganda. Many people have been blithely unaware, or possibly felt a little uneasy at times when something hasn't quite rung true.

Laura Dodsworth chronicles that along with the censorship and propaganda, came FEAR.

The perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting emotional messaging. —SPI-B (Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviour) 22 March 2020

SPI-B is the notorious 'Nudge' unit, employing covert behavioural psychological tools to unconsciously get us to behave in certain ways. It wasn't until I read Laura's book that I found out how pervasive nudging is; I had no idea about 'controlled spontaneity' - that the first bunches of flowers, solidarity graffiti at terrorist crime scenes, and positive social media hashtags like #Lovewins are pre-planned, and placed by units to steer public feeling.

There is a problem with releasing a negative attitude or spirit such as Fear on people. To illustrate dramatically what can go wrong, during the Vietnam war on March 16, 1968 a group of American soldiers killed 504 civilians in the village of My Lai, men, women and children. The soldiers were only stopped when a courageous helicopter pilot, seeing what was going on, landed between the troops and the villagers, and trained his guns on the troops, threatening to fire. But what preceded the atrocity is significant. The order to engage with the enemy was supplemented with vague, general comments to 'go in aggressively' to take revenge and to 'kill everything walking, talking or growling.' From a spiritual perspective, I would argue that an attitude, or even murderous spirit was unleashed.

Closer to home, in 2012 Theresa May, the Home Secretary announced that she wanted “to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration”. I would suggest that a hostile spirit, or attitude was promulgated, and government and agency officials then act out of that spirit. As a consequence, it later emerged that many of the Windrush generation who had lived in the UK since 1948, as well as their children, who had the right to remain in Britain, were treated unjustly - now known as the Windrush Scandal.

We may not do evil

It is a Christian principle that we should not do evil in order that good may result.

And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just. —Romans 3:8

There is a spiritual aspect to deliberately stoking fear in a population. Once released, it cannot be recalled, and significantly, neither can the outcome be controlled. It is not ethical. We might do well to think more critically about the policies and proposals of those who use such tactics.

And so we find inhumanity taking place in such a fearful atmosphere.

Update: the Labour Party tweeted on 13 January 2022:

I remember 20 May 2020 vividly, I spent hours on the phone to a man who was in the hospital car park, utterly desperate to see his wife. He begged, wept, shouted to be let in, but we said no - for the greater good of everyone else. She died unexpectedly and alone, as the government had a party. —Jenny NHS Nurse

The 'greater good' of society rests on preserving the good of each and every individual, who makes up society. Each person is precious, beloved of God, and not to be used or sacrificed.

How can we respond to the propagation of fear?

• We must discern what we watch and listen to, and not permit fear or lies to enter our lives. Let us not allow the proper fear of the Lord - a good kind of fear, (respect, awe, desire to love and obey) to be replaced by fear of sickness or death.

Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it. —Proverbs 4:23

• Actively put your faith and trust in God. Tell Him you trust Him; ask for deeper faith.
• Prayerfully say, 'In the name of Jesus, I renounce... eg fear'
  This is the ancient spiritual practice of renounciation, (saying 'No' to...) used specifically here for fear (we use it in a general way in Baptism). Take your stand for freedom.

The Good Shepherd who counts the sheep

Jesus contrasts his actions and those of a hired hand when the wolf (the wolf of fear?) comes:

He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. —John 10:12-13

Jesus guards and defends, Jesus does not run away. In fact, he gives his own life for anyone he saves. He is trustworthy.

In his story about the shepherd who leaves the 99 and goes looking after the one lost sheep Luke 15:1-7, Jesus reveals that he too counts them all out and counts them all back to make sure each one is safe and accounted for...

I counted them all out, and I counted them all back —Brian Hanrahan

We need not fear or be anxious. And if we have weakened and given way to fear, Jesus will come after us in our lostness. We can be sorry and turn away from it ie. repent, relying on him, and Jesus will bring us back home, gently on his shoulders, as with a sheep, whispering his peace over fear in our ears.