On January 7th, Renee Nicole Good’s life was taken by ICE officer Jonathan Ross. She was shot in the face while driving her Ford Explorer, trying to exit a hostile scene in Minnesota. Republicans couldn’t wait to get booked on news channels so they could spread the “Obey in Advance” message that aligns with their keeping people in fear strategy. The problem is, fear doesn’t work. It never has. The event sparked protests across the country, rivaling those of George Floyd and Trayvon Martin.

The citizens of the United States, in general, can protest without too much fear, but there are exceptions. That could change, though, depending on how far Republicans and the Supreme Court are willing to allow the Trump administration wage their war on people of color. As ICE raids more cities and our friends and neighbors are kidnapped from their schools and homes, there will be more and bigger protests. Bank on it.

The people of Iran, however, do live in fear. In the past month, it’s estimated that between 2,400 and 3,400 people have been killed in the Iranian regime’s crackdown on protests. Yet we see women throwing their hijabs in bonfires and dancing in the streets. That is courage. Everything to lose and no fucks left to give. My hat is off to them.

The thing is, fear works until it doesn’t. I have a nasty habit of relating everything back to religion, but it’s relevant in this case. Growing up, we’re taught to fear hell. The message is behave, or else! Youth are exposed to the idea of a fiery place where they’re being burned alive for eternity with no cookies and no Xbox. If that’s not an incentive, then I don’t know what is. But it only works as long as you believe the threat. Once the idea of a place like hell seems a little fishy, then fear of it no longer applies. It’s the same thing with protests in the United States and Iran. At some point, enough people get out in the streets and say, “We dare you to come get all of us.” The reward of gaining what you’re protesting for makes the risk of joining others in the protest worth it.

My siblings and I were raised in the Catholic tradition. For me, this included five years in parochial school. It was the full enchilada—Church, School, and Parish life, all reinforced at home. In grades 1-3, the message was more aligned with fear. In no uncertain terms, there was this omnipotent God out there, who could get mad and destroy things, even entire civilizations, if he didn’t like how things were going. And if you dared break any of the 10 Commandments, it’ll be eternity in hell for you. In retrospect, it was only a reflection of the occasional pestilence narrative from the Old Testament, but we didn’t know that at the time. We chose to obey in advance, if for no other reason, to keep the peace. The problem is that as kids get closer to the age of reason, many say, “Wait a minute! I’m not sure I buy into this eternity in hell narrative,” and the fear-factor strategy loses its effectiveness.

Catholicism has a well-deserved reputation as a religion heavily steeped in the guilt factor. I experienced this firsthand. It comes into play when the education system begins to focus on matters of conscience. So instead of talking about hell to get you to behave the way they want, they might ask, “How is your conscience doing following your nasty behavior towards John on the playground?” Of course, we would drop our heads and say, “Not so good.”

But here’s the thing. Instilling a conscience in students can be an effective tool for a person for an entire lifetime. Maybe Catholicism went a little overboard with it, but I’m glad they finally shifted away from the fear factor and onto another message I could actually relate to. Be considerate. Other people’s feelings matter. Don’t be a pig. And if you don’t, you should feel guilty! Not because God is going to send you to a fiery place, but because you want to be a good human being, don’t you? Don’t you?

When I used to interview candidates for jobs at a former employer, we tried to look for people who weren’t job hoppers. We were about to make an investment in a new hire, and the investment doesn’t pay off unless the person can actually use the training we’ve invested in them and move the ball forward for the company. If I liked a candidate enough, I’d probe a little into their background to see whether they had more long-term interests and might stay a while. Of course, they can lie, and the company would have no recourse, but I played this one straight up. I would just make a statement to appeal to their conscience, but in a humorous way. “We really like it when candidates work out and stay a few years, and that’s what we would hope from you. Of course, every employer is at-will, and you can do whatever you need to, but if you were to leave, we would want you to feel guilty [usually laughs]. Nothing threatening about it, just appealing to your good sense of a mutual investment.

Sadly, the conscience strategy is destined to fail in the Trump administration because they don’t have one, so we have to fight their egregious, racist, greedy policies with activism and resistance, and then vote people in at all levels who have a conscience. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.