When people are scared they are in need of someone to give them assurance and answers. If an influential person takes advantage of this they can easily use this to push an agenda. This could be in for form of misinformation or conspiracies toward a group of people or ideologies.
Okay, say you live on Mercury. Challenges r that it is super dry and hot. It is the closest to the sun.It is different from earth because Earth has water, and life on it! Mercury does not.