What do you think of the use of fear as a motivator?

I think that people who need to resort to fear in order to
motivate others usually don't have their best interests at heart, and lack other
compelling arguments that would make such motivation justified.  People tend to act
foolishly and emotionally when they are afraid, and if you know this, and yet you still
want them to act this way, then you have some other motive, that
probably has more to do with your self interest than with protecting or helping
others.

Politicians do this all the time, telling us to
hate or to fear specific groups: conservatives or liberals, Republican or Democrat,
Muslims or Jews, immigrants or the poor.  Do they do this to help the public or to
protect us?  I don't think so at all.  They do it to divide, to profit or to get
re-elected.

Many religions have used the fear of hell very
effectively over the centuries, as did Edwards in his Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God sermon.  While he may have been sincere in his religious
beliefs, I think when people use fear as a motivator, they do us much more harm than
they could possibly do us good.