Perhaps but such ideas weren't amplified by the rich and powerful using mass communications technology.

Yup. In the old days, they just used bullets.

 

Yup. In the old days, they just used bullets.

Well they still do (the global spend on arms is larger than at any time in the past, almost 3 trillion annually), but "they" have always used fear, and today is no different but it is more sinister and has far greater reach than has ever been possible because of social media "platforms" that many young people spend every waking hour fretting over.

It's much easier to control a mass of scared people than a mass of informed, thinking people, you just tell them you will take care of them, you will confront those things that threaten them etc etc.