It is and is not.

Clarification; fear is what sparks the human ego. It makes us afraid of unimportant things like how other people see us. Fear allows us to be afraid of losing respectability, so we go about our lives working towards being the most cunning, the most deceiving. We learn ways to hide our "ugliness" and exploit the ugliness of others. In this way, fear is the root cause of what you may call "evil"

But, this needn't be so. Fear is a basic survival mechanism. You can experience fear free of ego. This is called courage. In this way fear is not the root of evil.

Ultimately this isn't a matter of "cause and effect". Sure, the root causes the tree, but the seed causes the root and likewise the seed's predecessor caused it. It is a continuum.

Fear exists because it exists. Evil exists because you chose so.

i think that a main reason people hate on others is because of their fear. their fear of what? i don't know. for example like a bullies, most often then not they are afraid or have a lack of something in their lives that makes them feel vulnerable that makes them act so cruelly. i never thought of fear being the root, but i like that, makes sense

It is hard to imagine world without fear, certainly it will look different than ours.

Fear can be fought with self-knowledge and renunciation.