Why Fearmongers Migrate to Various Media

Around the world, people have fallen prey to a social disease that has been around for decades, but it continues to grow due to social media and news media. That social disease is “Stinking Thinking.” This term has been applied to negative, irrational thoughts that influence how we think, believe, act, and generally behave.

Several cognitive distortions have been identified as feeding our fear, anger, and general depression in today’s world. We often ignore them because they seem so mundane or are below us. However, over time, it is easy to get trapped in one or more of these at home, work, or politics to the point that we become targets of fearmongers.

Here are some cognitive distortions that can cripple people through anxiety, depression, or even anger:

1. Binary Thinking — Everything is black and white absolutes. This is not the real world.

2. Generalization — When concluding, seeing a trend based on one event or overly broad compilation.

3. Bias Filtering — Biases are ingrained in us. However, how we allow those biases to control us often provides a skewed sense of reality by only allowing those facts that agree with our biases to become prominent.

4. Ignoring the Positives — Too often, we discount the good things in our lives for various reasons. Many times, these reasons are fed by the opinions of others.

5. No Evidence Conclusions — We find ourselves in trouble when we interpret the meaning of any situation with little or no evidence. This occurs when we pay more attention to what others think of us rather than understanding ourselves better.

6. Problem Exaggeration — This issue is rampant today. Minor issues are seen as significant catastrophes, then made viral by false information or distorted facts.

7. Negative Domination — When negative feelings begin to fill our thoughts without facts to support them, negative attitudes dominate our lives. Emotions are a prime source of this distortion.

8. Self-Guilt Statements — When we begin to use the terms over “should,” “must,” or “ought,” we can find ourselves deep in the trench because we failed at something or we failed to do something. Others can trigger this attitude with simple statements if we cannot think things through sufficiently. No one is perfect, so strive for excellence.

9. Labeling — My pet peeve. This is rampant in society today in many ways. Politics has always been a labeling nightmare but has become so commonplace that most politicians have forgotten how to be human. Dogmatic ideologies are splitting the workers of companies, churchgoers, universities, restaurants, and many other industries. Some are self-inflicted, others are strains of the anger of one group against another.

10. The Blame Game is my second pet peeve. When we begin getting upset with things out of our control and have no direct way to affect an outcome, we fall back on the blame game. When we are unwilling to find how we fit into the bigger picture, it becomes our default position.

Fearmongers, yes, this is a label I use with intent because they understand these cognitive distortions and come out of the woodwork in the new year. Don’t get me wrong, they are more prolific than valid information providers all year round, but they seem to stoke the fire starting with New Year’s Resolutions in hopes they can hook people for the rest of the year. We see this in titles of articles on the internet, Facebook, X, Linkedin News Outlets, Podcasts, Books, and every famous Guru of any subject.

When I began this article, it expressed my disappointment in humanity because we have reached the point that we don’t want to think for ourselves. We would rather have someone else tell us what to think, which is foolish on all counts. But then I thought, what do fearmongers know that allows them to generate the fervor, hype, and frustration? The objective changed.

First, they understand the cognitive distortions listed above, but then we must look at motivations. Fearmongers, who spread fear, panic, and misinformation, are often drawn to social media platforms for various incentives. Many are driven by greed, disruption, anger, selfishness, or ideology.

Here are ten reasons why I believe fearmongers migrate to social media:

Broad Audience Reach: Social media platforms have billions of users, providing fearmongers with a massive potential audience to target. They can’t get this size audience anywhere else in the world. This makes the small complainer find more like-minded people to commiserate with and plan. Ultimately, it’s about POWER.

Stealth & Anonymity: Many social media platforms have anonymity, making it easier for fearmongers to avoid accountability for their actions. It’s easy to be obnoxious, rude, angry, calculating, immoral, or even promote a brazen ideology that is disastrous for the world when you can be anonymous. You can hide and stir the pot. Ultimately, it’s about DISRUPTION.

Ease of Access: social media is easily accessible on smartphones and computers, allowing fearmongers to disseminate information quickly and efficiently. This motivates someone to vent, blame, or discredit someone in anger. Ultimately, it’s about HIDING.

Low Barrier to Entry: Creating a social media presence is relatively easy and inexpensive, making it accessible to many individuals. Whether slick or crude, it will impact someone over time. Ultimately, it’s about INFLUENCE, GREED.

Algorithmic Amplification: Social media algorithms often prioritize sensational or controversial content, amplifying fearmongering messages to a larger audience. Ultimately, it’s about SENSATIONALISM.

Confirmation Bias: Social media users tend to follow and engage with content that aligns with their beliefs, creating echo chambers where fearmongering messages can spread unchallenged. Ultimately, it’s about INFLUENCE.

Viral Potential: Fearmongering messages and conspiracy theories often go viral on social media, spreading rapidly through shares and retweets. Ultimately, it’s about DISRUPTION & POWER.

Monetization Opportunities: Many fearmongers use social media to generate income through advertising, merchandise sales, or crowdfunding, incentivizing them to continue their activities. Ultimately, it’s about GREED.

Lack of Fact-Checking: Social media platforms vary in their efforts to fact-check content, allowing fearmongers to disseminate false or misleading information with little oversight. Other users also play a part in this situation because they choose not to dig deeper to understand the topic and call out the fearmongers for what they are: manipulators. Ultimately, it’s about USERS being LAZY.

Radicalization and Recruitment: This has been in the background for decades but became prominent after 9/11. Social media can be a breeding ground for radicalization, where fearmongers can recruit like-minded individuals into their networks and amplify their influence. This becomes the fertile field of conspiracy theories and would-be dictators. Ultimately, it’s about POWER.

In summary, we must move to open and deeper thinking on the personal level. Being lazy is a high price to pay for being bombarded by fake news, conspiracy theories, and hate that makes us languish in fear, anxiety, and depression.

It’s essential for everyone to be critical consumers of information on social media, news media, and locally driven fearmongering and to report harmful or false content to help mitigate the influence of fearmongers. At the same time, social media platforms are supposed to be responsible for addressing these issues by implementing better content moderation and fact-checking mechanisms. Still, we have seen them continue to limit their restrictions so they don’t lose their influence, subscribers, or advertisers.

It is time to get out of the “Stinking Thinking” mode and move into the world of confirmation of facts, open thinking, and having a reasonable dialog. Please take responsibility for your values, principles, beliefs, and self-awareness and use them as benchmarks on what you read, watch, listen to, and see daily.