Fear is natural. You can’t operate on the assumption that everybody is going to be Audie Murphy. The correct strategy is to take it into account. One constant through history is that people feel less afraid in groups. Less afraid when they see others doing things they are individually scared to do. This is built into the organism.

By dis-empowering the public and fragmenting them, the state is actually making individuals feel isolated and increasing their fear. What the state ought to do is to harness the public and provide an orderly channel for fear, to prevent it from becoming mindless or malicious vigilanteeism. What will happen anywhere the public begins to suspect that the state cannot protect it is that it gradually withdraws into silent, sullen, self-protecting groups. That is an explosive development.

This is where the unintended consequence can come from. This is where jokers enter the pack.

Petraeus knew how to do it. He recognized that grassroots groups sprang into existence but supervised them properly. He coopted and harnessed the anger and fear that al-Qaeda created and turned it into a sharp, controlled weapon. The warning signs, the telltales of unease are all there. This is probably one of the reasons why ammunition sales have been going through the roof. People are buying ammo on general principles, literally without quite knowing why … just on a hunch it may come in handy … though they don’t know exactly why.

The role of the opinion leaders should be to give a constructive and civil shape to unease. To prevent unease from being hijacked by demagogues you have to stop lying to the public about things. Tell them there’s a war on and how they can get ready for it. Don’t tell them fairy-tales. “Don’t jump to conclusions. It was only an isolated extremist. The system worked. Just want to reassure the public. There is no War on Terror.” This drivel is precisely the wrong thing to say because nobody believes it. Maybe not even the Left if they could get themselves to admit it. And if you don’t give the public something believable and useful to do, they’ll start buying tinfoil hats and dream up mischief.