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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026

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Which eliminates the entire idea of inspiring fear to avoid hatred.

? I read it as not that you should inspire fear to avoid hatred (that is, the fear is a means of avoiding being hated), but that when inspiring fear (if you can't also be loved) to avoid inadvertently inspiring hatred as a side-effect of the fear.

Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated...

I always read this as Love > Fear in and of itself, but Love can easily turn into Hate, while Fear will not turn to Hate as easily and is therefore preferable to Love.

But I guess it takes all sorts.