Yeah for sure they want us scared
But for someone to empower themself politically they first need to understand enough about the dynamic in society
The dynamic is that there is a small number of people dominating what they would probably call: 'the herd', the 'mob', the 'profane', 'the great unwashed' etc
Once enough people understand that dynamic then they naturally develop a sense of solidarity with the people around them as they recognise their shared predicament
Solidarity will be the key to bringing power back to the people and it must operate on a large enough scale that the state apparatus such as the police will not be enough to stop the popular upswell
So the game for the people is to unite and the game for the 1% is to find ways to kepp the people divided. That is why the mainstream media (which is owned by the 1%) will constantly make people angry and direct that anger at different groups be it 'immigrants', 'muslims', 'bleeding heart liberals', 'tea-baggers', 'benefit cheats', 'Iranians' or any other people they will demonise to draw the anger away from themselves