Blood and chocolate a rhetorical approach to fear appeal

Fear appeal, as a tactic of persuasion, has been studied mostly from an experimental and nondiscursive perspective. The aim of this study is to examine the use of fear appeal in a natural discursive setting of fundamentalist rhetoric. More specifically, the authors examine the interactional problems facing Jewish fundamentalist preachers who try to manipulate fear. In addition, the authors identify several discursive strategies that aim to solve these problems. The general conclusions point to the power of a discursive perspective for examining fear appeal and its sophisticated use in rhetoric and present a new vision for the study of discourse and psychology.