The Threat and Fear of War: The State and Politics in American Mass Media

Abstract

The cultivation of political fears of the state and radical change of attitudes in the minds of people is possible in certain socio-political and economic conditions and massive propaganda in the mass media. The concept of political fear is insufficiently studied in psycholinguistics. This article is dedicated to exploring the political fears of the state in the modern American mass media. This research uses hypothetical-deductive and inductive methods, methods of definitional, interpretative and subjective analysis, and content analysis. It is found that in the modern American mass media, political fear of the state is revealed in fear of war and competition. To verbalize the horror of war and struggle, politicians in power use various tactics of agonal function as the main means of impact on opponents.