Imaginary enemies

The quickest way to get followers is to lie. There are many types of lies. One is to make the listener feel better. Relieve them of responsibility for their situation.

Find someone else to blame, preferably one that they can't quite see and also can't quite deny. Find an imaginary enemy.

In the 20s we blamed Anarchists. In the 30s we blamed Jews. In the 40s we blamed Nazis and Japanese. In the 50s and for a while after we blamed Communists. Sometimes we called them hippies. For their part, they blamed the capitalists and the Man. Black people blamed white people. Conservatives blamed liberals who blamed conservatives. Everyone blamed the guy before. And we all blamed someone else.

Divide up the world into us and them. We are good. We are better. WE ARE THE BEST. But them... They are evil and lazy and deceitful and harmful and they will destroy the world. They are also relentless. Yes, lazy and relentless. They work very hard at destroying our society which values hard work. Is that a contradiction? Well that's not our fault, it's because they're also stupid!

It is seductive. You are good. We are good. Listen to me. They are out to get you and me and us. They are ruining the world for you and me and us. It is not our faults. They caused it.

But oh the irony when we relieve ourselves of responsibility and blame for the state of the world, when we blame it all on morons and slackers. Really? Lazy and stupid people are your scapegoat? They are the next great conspiracy which will destroy society?

It is utterly absurd. But it is founded in the traditions of everything from racism saying some of us are better than others to predestination saying that some of us are saved and some are not and that's how it is. It's another us and them.

The adherents of the lie will turn it right back around on those who dissent. You disagree? You're a moron! Or a slacker! Or... BOTH! They're everywhere and all over the place and could be anywhere; they are the new Communist conspiracy. This is where they lose all hint of subtlety: they keep calling the moron and slacker conspiracy socialism. They can't even keep up the front of a new enemy, they just go right back to the old one.

I'll just be direct now: If you think there is an international movement of stupid and lazy people destroying the world, then you are either too stupid to see that is wrong or you are too lazy to question it. Either way, you're more than likely part of the problem. It's self-fulfilling, for if there aren't enough lazy and stupid people ruining the world, you're providing more.

I admit, it's tempting to blame everything on other people being stupid. It's easier to never see that other people have different priorities and information and may be reaching perfectly sensible conclusions based on what they have. It takes much more work to see a different perspective. It's easier to just throw negative labels at that which you do not understand. But to actively refuse to try understand the world is both stupid and lazy.