History of needing enemies

World War II brought us out of the Great Depression, building massive war industries with little or no civilian utility. So what was a poor war profiteer to do with all that investment? Start another war. But with whom? No problem. Invent enemies. Thus began the Red Scare, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam and the many proxy wars.

No matter that the Soviet Union had suffered the highest casualties and greatest devastation of any of the WWII combatants. It was foreign, it was Red, and that was enough to generate fear, loathing and the economically stimulating arms race. Following the collapse of our No. 1 enemy, we floundered a bit, tinkering first with a feeble war on drugs, then the Balkans, then Saddam Hussein, then Moammar Gadhafi, then … I forget.

But with each victory, what was needed was a permanent, persistent enemy – and this is the brilliant part – an enemy that was alien and nasty, an enemy that could be anything you want it to be, an enemy that could be everywhere and nowhere, an enemy that could be never be defeated.

Invention just doesn’t get better than ISIS. George Orwell would be impressed.

Michael Poulin

Spokane