Imagine that some combination of circumstances end with you walking into a so-so bar, then accidentally causing some gigantic brute to spill his drink. Imagine also that this brute just learned that his girlfriend moved out, taking his money with her.

The brute, towering over you, clenches his fists and start spewing threats. Your knees go weak, you can barely think or move… you try to back up but do it so clumsily that you're grasping the edge of the bar to prevent yourself from falling.

The brute hasn't touched you, but you've already been seriously impacted. This happened because of well-known and well-studied chemicals… the chemicals now surging through your body.

So, wasn't this fear a chemical weapon? It was, in fact, the bully's first blow. The chemicals in question were generated by your own body, but they are chemicals just the same. 

Fear, then, is a chemical weapon. So are intimidation and shame. As are their cousins, guilt, blame, and probably a few others, depending upon how we write our definitions.

Robert Sapolsky, who studied the chemicals involved (he studied baboons, but their body chemistry and ours are nearly the same), finding that these "chemical weapons" resulted in more stress, higher blood pressure, a suppressed immune system, and reduced fertility. They are, then, potent weapons.

Our Unfortunate Biology

For both better and worse, we have a biological history. On one hand, that biological history has kept our species present and thriving, and so our complaints, however legitimate, are mitigated. On the other hand, our hormones, after who knows how many generations, have been trained to respond to things like authority and group identity. As a result they can release some very unpleasant and harmful chemicals into our bodies at certain times. And that's something the manipulators of mankind have learned to use.

Our hormonal responses are not necessarily overwhelming, but they do have their effects… poisonous effects. By triggering fear, shame or intimidation (and the boundaries between them can be fuzzy), our hormones are triggered as well. And these hormones do more than just spur some of our thoughts and actions, they directly damage our health.