An Endless Line of Enemies

We emerge from a cave in the dim glow and dying light of the day. Sharpened rocks in our fists, we keep our eyes peeled for any sign of danger.

The bushes rustle as birds hop from branch to branch, distant growls and howls populate the waxing hours of sunlight.

We are a ragged bunch. Mostly naked except for the scarce pieces of cloth that cover our groins. Having learned to harness the power of fire, to hunt large game, we are a formidable species, but we are certainly not without enemies. We fear the cold, predators, and disease that seems to come as punishment from some unseen force. The world is unforgiving, but still we push on.

The wilderness is chattering, it speaks an unknown language of mystery and superstition. The mechanics of predator and prey are grasped, but most else seems to be unknown. We don't know what the sun is, or why it continues to rise every day. We don't know how or why the rains come. We don't know the density of the rocks we use as weapons, but we know how to survive.

We have each other, our enemy is the darkness settling upon the hills and trees and gullies, and the wilderness it covers in uncertainty. Our enemies are also the big cats, boars, mammoths, snakes, the lions and tigers that watch us from concealment. Man has many foes, survival depends on cohesion and intelligence. Together, in tribes, man is unmatched as a hunter.

We are Homo sapiens sapiens. Our history has been remarkable, full of an endless line of trials and hardships. We have endured thus far, supposedly for close to 200,000 years. Out of the plains of Africa to populate every corner of the globe.

Man has always had enemies. From nature itself to the lifeforms that inhabit its niches and ecosystems, we have always had foes. Fear and uncertainty are part of our existence.

We are now, at this present time, on top of the food chain. We are the most intelligent and dominant species on the planet, possibly the most intelligent single species to ever have existed on our small blue dot.

Throughout our history, men and groups of men have sought to dominate other groups of men, whether militarily, economically, spiritually, or by controlling his mind.

Groups of men have subjugated and enslaved other men, in the name of bringing them into an empire, for economic gain, or even to 'save their souls' by religious conversion. It has been occurring for most of man's history.

We have always been told who our enemies are, who we should fear and loathe, and be ready to kill. We have always been taught that the world is a dangerous place, and that there are always other homo sapiens ready to kill us.

In this nation, the United States of America, we have had our share of enemies. First, it was the British, who taxed us into oblivion, whom we fought and defeated for our freedom.

Then it was the Indians, who's land we coveted to expand the borders of our new nation. Then it was the French in the Quasi war, then the British again in 1812. Then it was war against Mexico.

Then we fought and killed each other over slavery and state's rights. Following the Civil War, we fought a war with the Spanish and seized control of a large part of the Caribbean.

Then we fought the first 'Great War,' being 'sucked' into it after the Lusitania sank. We came late but our arrival was enough to help defeat Germany. We essentially raped the country of its pride at Versailles, which created the conditions under which Adolf Hitler came to power.

Now the Germans, the Japanese, and the Italians were our enemies. We had to defeat the Germans because they sought to dominate the world. We had to defeat the Japanese because they were part of the Axis and bombed us at Pearl Harbor. The Italians also being part of this alliance, also had to be dealt with.

As a result of fighting two 'world wars' our country was left with a massive military machine, as were the Soviets. Because we were the only major powers left standing, naturally we became enemies. So, the military machines of both of our countries began to produce massive amounts of arms, both nuclear and conventional, as well as delivery systems.

We fought a series of proxy wars in Korea, Afghanistan, and Vietnam against 'communist forces.' It was essentially two major powers engaging in battle indirectly. We fought against the North Koreans who were supplied by the Chinese and Soviets, the North Vietnamese were supplied by the Chinese and Soviets, and we aided the Mujaheddin against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

We threatened each other with destruction repeatedly, nearly came to an all out nuclear war after Russia stationed missiles on Cuba, but our nation was able to outspend and outlast the Soviets.

The Berlin Wall comes down in 1989, and with it the Soviet Union. Suddenly, America is without a clear enemy. We had been engaged in an arms race, despite reduction pacts, for more than 40 years, and suddenly the USA was thrust onto the world stage as the sole super power.

Now we have all these weapons, this massive military machine, this advanced technology that enables us to dominate any country of our choosing. Well... there's no clear enemy, how do you now justify maintaining an increasing amount of military spending?

You create an enemy.

Instead of a clear-cut, well defined foe, we are now taught that our enemy could be anywhere, strike at any time, that our entire planet is a battlefield and that everyone is a potential terrorist. We are told to give up our rights in the name of fighting faceless phantoms.

This is just another point on an endless line of enemies. We need to realize how we have been, and continue to be manipulated into fearing a people, or a nation, or people of certain ideological or spiritual persuasion. We need to realize how the goal of this manipulation: to make us fear something enough so that we give up our rights, so that the game can continue.

There have always been (by definition) terrorists, and there will continue to be more. You don't stop terrorism by feeding into extremism. You don't stop it by bombing a country, killing families, thereby creating more. You cannot declare war on a tactic. Well, you can, but it is a war you will never win.

The question is: when are we going to wake up and see what's going on? This is nothing new, and it won't stop until we become aware of it, and realize that succumbing to fear and manipulation is only going to ensure the game continues.

[edit on 3-5-2010 by JipStix]

reply to post by JipStix


In a conventional war , no one is in the same arena as the US.

But the US has chosen a enemy with no standing army, no clear cut borders

to defend. The US has no advantage over this kind of enemy. This enemy

by its own lack of conventional forces, will fight it's type of war. A war not

in battlefields, but in main Street USA. Their will be civilian casualties and

for the first time in a long time, the USA will be the battlefield.

It'll happen when the vast majority of people stop voting.

It'll happen when the military arm of the United States of America decides that it realy is a moral institution and takes it's firearms and goes weapons hot, and points them at the political structure controlling this country.

Outside of that, it will run it's course to the detriment of this country.

PREPARE YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY