Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
Dr. Seuss
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
Bertrand Russell
There is an old story of two thieves carrying out a heist. Something precious is found among the spoil that interests both of them equally. They start dividing the pillage but cannot decide about the one they both like. So, they start an argument that leads to a fight. While they are busy fighting, a third thief arrives and stills the whole loot. This story became an illustration for those who keep busy fighting over something, while a craftier person robs them off the whole ransack. The point of the story is distraction, and how two people or more are distracted fighting (that may be devised intentionally and by an organized system) in order to rob them off their belongings. The analogy can be extended to almost all governments. Leaders know how to create an environment that keeps people busy with some kind of phobia, while they use the opportunity to rob them off their freedom. This form of exploitation was once the policy of the British Empire in invading and subjugating people of other lands. While combating each other, they did not notice the common enemy, in this case the Empire. The aggressor would instigate a war, usually related to their beliefs, and would use the opportunity to extract their natural resources, while enslaving them. This policy, when performed cunningly, using anything that people in the society are most vulnerable to, hardly ever fails. When there is not anything that can divide a society up, they would create one. The best tools that can make division among people are religion, class, race, and gender.
