[DC] If Batman were to operate through fear and intimation just like in the comics, will it actually work in real life? (TL DR)

Forget the reality of Batman for a moment, like the amount of training he needs to take to become that physically athletic or the impossible achievements of obtaining 128 martial arts (which is not only impossible but also illogical since different martial arts have different principals and tenets and are used for different physiques and training) and also how he was able to get 13 master degrees in such a short amount of time, or how much Batman is able to maintain crime in a city that is as big as Chicago all by himself or even how much money do you need to operate that much tech., or even if that type of technology even exists, or even if people will actually take him seriously as a superstitious vigilante, or even if anyone will be able to identify that Batman is Bruce Wayne immediately since the Internet is connected to everyone, and plenty of people are smart and will make forums about who Batman is, or hacking in many electronic devices is easy nowadays, and so on.....

No, I am talking about his methods of intimidation and inducing-fear into his enemies.

Don't get me wrong, I love that about Batman and he is one of my most favourite comic book heroes of all time since it makes him a lot like a badass and somehow quite understandable, considering the plenty of mob bosses and feared criminal leaders have had Gotham at their fingertips for far too long and have been ruling it through terror, corruption and even chaos, so it is very reasonable and thoughtful process for Bruce Wayne for challenge Gotham's criminal underworld the same way that criminals do .... fear.

So that all criminals would know that they are not in charge anymore and get a taste of their own medicine and fear is a very powerful emotion. It is an emotion that gives you great wisdom when there is danger around.

That is why people become hesitant when they see an angry tiger looking at them dead in the eye like it is ready to pounce with its fangs and teeth ready and exposed, same for Batman when he is hiding in the shadows, looking like a demonic beast, who just came from hell to punish them for their sins.

And this is the same way people act towards feared and powerful enemies like the US military, or Russia, or even the Royal Family (since they have the SAS, the most fearful, effcient, well-trained and dangerous Special Forces in the world)

So, I am wondering ... will Batman's methods actually work?

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I am a psychology student, and we have come across a psychological phenomenon called fear-arousal appeal, which is a strategy for motivating people to take a particular action, endorse a particular policy, or buy a particular product, by arousing fear.

This develops a lot of many media, mostly on television.

But there is a catch, too much fear will cause too much anxiety to the person and they will often avoid that phenomenon, or in worst cases, it will give them so much anxiety because they will soon believe that what that induced fear is telling them, like you are worthless, or you are weak, and so on.

And because of that, it turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy, and that induced fear is not actually motivating that person to avoid from doing something, such as in this case, criminal acts, but actually the opposite. Because the fear induces so much anxiety and fear can literally control and "manipulate" your own logic and can tell you even a lot of lies or ideas about yourself, and that emotion is so powerful that you will eventually believe it and behave in the ways that your own fear is telling you about yourself.

And this has been done a lot in the past and failed miserably.

Like when the drug wars came into being during the 80s and 90s, there was so much panic about these new drugs and how will they affect the public, especially youths, that they made a lot of PSAs and anti-drugs ads that were meant to induce fear to the public so that they will avoid taking drugs, but in fact, it did the opposite.

Or how about young people who behaved in delinquent acts or those kids taken to a real-life prison, in one of those reality TV shows, where delinquient children are taken to actual prisons in order to induce fear of what will happen if they continue such delinquent acts (i think if I am correct, the show is called " Beyond scared straight") or those "tough love" parents who treat their own kids by "scolding them" so to speak in order to scare them from doing such acts like, "if you keep doing this, you end like one of those guys", which is probably even worse when a parent does that over and over again, where the parent is always criticising about anything that the kid does and scold them, to the point that turns into abuse, but anyway ....

Too much fear will actually be too anxious and too harmful for these children and studies have suggested that those children in that show where more likely to continue to behave in their delinquent acts, especially since they are publicly shown on television where everyone will depict them as criminals and the prisoners humiliate them and treat them like dirt and it turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Plus, we know that people don't actually engage in criminal acts by choice. Those who are criminals are people who have gone through tough challenges in life like poor environments, poor social support, low socio-economic status and so on. So, no one does these "evil acts" by choice.

(which is somehow a good reason why I like Batman so much because there is a good reason why Batman refuses to kill and rather sends them to justice and focuses a lot on funding for the mentally ill and orphanages and for the poor because he knows that his enemies are not so different than he is because they were more than victims of unfortunate circumstances, just like he was, so he will willing to bring them justice but also willing to give them a second chance in life, over and over again.

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TLDR ... how do you think about this?

Will Batman's strategies of inducing fear will actually help against an entire criminal underworld who has been ruling Gotham for a very long time, through intimidation as well, in order to be hesitant the next time they will engage in criminal acts?

IMO ... I am not sure, to be perfectly honest.

I mean, plenty of people have encountered Batman a lot but he is mainly a superstition because of how Batman moves and operates. I think the main reason why he still operates this way, is because of the means of power. These crime lords have had that amount of power for so long that they spread corruption, oppression and also fear to all of Gotham's citizens. So, to induce fear to these criminals, they will think that there is something, or someone, who much more powerful than them, much more powerful than even the justice department (even though Batman is not exactly above the law) so that they know what it means to be feared and oppressed being something more powerful than them, same methods that they did to the people of Gotham

Nobody in the criminal underworld actually knows whether or not Batman is even real

(again, he is mainly there to cause superstition), and even if he is real, nobody knows he is a monster who came from hell, or just a man in a costume.

Which I do say, there is a reason why many criminals are hesitant to do criminal acts because of something that they are not sure if it even real, but then again, Batman has been around for 75 years, so I am guessing ....

a) Plenty of criminals do not believe in superstitious stories

b) Plenty of criminals, especially these powerful crime lords, like Penguin, Black Mask, Scarecrow and so on are still willing to show who's boss and are not willing to bow down to anyone and willing to stay in power as much as possible, even against someone who around the law (not actually above it), as evidenced in plenty of comic book releases

c) These criminals are still undergoing through criminal activities because of the example that I have just mentioned. So Batman's did not actually prevent crime, it actually escalated crime. Sort of, because plenty of comic book releases say otherwise