When a propagandist warns members of her audience that disaster will result if they do not follow a particular course of action, she is using the fear appeal. By playing on the audience's deep-seated fears, practitioners of this technique hope to redirect attention away from the merits of a particular proposal and toward steps that can be taken to reduce the fear.

An interesting subject: How can this affect a virtual group on the Internet like our CodevCommunity?

-- PeterThoeny - 05 Aug 2003