Differentiating real threats from empty threats

We live in a world filled with threats. Personal threats, geopolitical threats, they are all around. Iran is threatening to strike Israel and, apparently, the preparations are indeed underway in Iraq and elsewhere. This, alone, proves the regime’s cowardice – it can’t strike from Iran directly but hides behind the Iraqi skirt. These regimes seem to mostly bark and rarely bite. Just talk, talk, talk, but, below all the bombastic propaganda, they know what their capabilities are and how inferior they are to Israel, and others. Then again, Iran is losing face and its ”dear leader” can’t pretend nothing is going on, so a strike on Israel is likely.

Still, there’s a chance the preparations to strike Israel are just for show, smoke and mirrors to make you look in one direction when real action is going on behind your back. Or maybe it’s exactly what it looks like. It’s like with people yelling, ”I’ll sue you,” or ”See you in court.” Road rage incidents are mostly bark and no bite. Most of the time, it’s just bark and no bite but not always. In my experience, you can’t always tell who’s the type of a person willing to act on their threats. People can surprise you. A seemingly peaceful person can turn out to be a vindictive and small-minded creature and someone combative, all in all, can turn out to be reasonable. The ones with no clear personality are likely the worst. As we say in Polish, ”Nie wiesz, co im w duszy gra.” You don’t know what’s playing in their soul. It’s best not to have any expectations when it comes to people and, indeed, geopolitics. It doesn’t mean just letting things play out without interference. It means leaving room for surprises – positive and negative.

Threats are also a defense mechanism. ”Wait till your father gets home,” that iconic phrase, actually expresses powerlessness disguised as rage. A kid is being a nuisance, and the mother can’t do anything about it, so she invokes a higher authority – the father – it’s a psychological trick. ”I can’t do anything to you, but your father can and he’s on my side. Your punishment is coming.” That way, the mother is elevating her own status and the kid is told to expect their nemesis. Indeed, it could be a lie and the father isn’t coming home; the perception of higher authority coming to punish the evil-doer is what matters. It works on all levels, all the way to God.

There are threats which are more comical and both sides usually know it. Kind of like a poker game and who blinks first. For example, the disgruntled Chinese psychic threatening to curse me and turn me into Amelia for Halloween was, of course, an empty threat. She had known all along but, maybe, she thought it’d be fun psychological warfare. I could call her a liar and delusional, yet again, and then block her, but decided not to. I just ignored her, knowing nothing was going to happen because such ”curses” go against the laws of physics. Well, unless she’s God in disguise.

Point being, in a world where everyone is suing everyone else and nuke threats are a daily occurrence, it’s vital to learn to separate real threats from empty threats and displays of machismo. Don’t waste your resources on empty threats. Direct your resources to real threats.