Concerning The General Public

One cannot incite social change through violence. Its only result is fear.

When people fear each other and themselves, the general population no longer longs for revolution, but for the safety that a secure government provides.

In the case of Baader-Meinhof, it started out as a protest gone very seriously wrong. The Persian Shah hired his own people and they attacked when the student protesters (protesting for equal rights in the Middle East). The police didn’t do anything. That’s what ultimately pissed people off. And when they did do something, they attacked the protestors not the first acting aggressors. This caused the general public to start fearing the government, believing it was a police state rather than the government it was supposed to be. This prompted rebellion and it escalated quickly. It died off a little and then the RAF reemerged in full force. And people were happy with it. They liked that they were doing something. And then they started getting violent. Really, really violent. And the RAF lost the support of the public because the public began to become afraid of them. They didn’t know where the bombs were, didn’t know who was going to die next. And they welcomed it when the government cracked down on them, they were okay with being man-handled to find the RAF members.

Because they were afraid.

Afraid that maybe next time they would be in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

Afraid that their family members could be next.

The general public does not handle fear well.