The term “enemy” itself does not need lengthy explanations. This is a phenomenon or concept whose aspirations are to damage the object. The enemy can be both single people and groups of people, as well as certain events, habits and circumstances. Like a shadow, the enemy is accompanied by his image, his imaginary representation in the thoughts and emotions of the victim. Often this view has very little in common with the real state of things.
The origins
For the primitive man, the enemy was anyone who was not a member of his tribe. At that time, such behavior can be considered rational. The daily struggle for the life and existence of the tribe dictated a similar attitude towards strangers. Modern conditions no longer imply a daily mortal struggle in a hostile surrounding world. However, ancient instincts, deeply seated in each, can manifest themselves in extreme situations. For example, during war or catastrophes. Intelligence and culture fly off a modern person very quickly.
Who is the enemy
There is a version that the word "enemy" comes from the word "Varangian". You can imagine a crowd of armed hairy Vikings in horned helmets, landing on the shore with the aim of robbery and robbery. It is quite obvious who the enemy is and how to deal with him. The enemy is one who threatens the victim’s existence or seeks to appropriate the victim’s resources. When this happens in reality and personally - everything is clear here. However, with indirect interaction, that is, when the enemy is not visible, there is a natural need and the need to create an idea of this very enemy. In people's heads, a system of images and concepts about the enemy is being created.
Form
The next paragraph. The image of the enemy in conflict is a purely mental description of the enemy. In order to justify himself and give himself moral strength, he is endowed with the most negative traits and properties. In essence, they are dehumanizing him. Almost always, if we are talking only about people, and not about phenomena, the formation of the image of the enemy occurs simultaneously at all warring parties. Often, even the mutual descriptions of their opponents are very similar. Both armies go to kill each other, and each on the banner says: "God is with us." It would be funny if it were not so sad. Like any human description of the surrounding reality is not perfect, so the image of the enemy, describing the adversary, is also far from reality. This is especially characteristic of such an image. What fictitious properties is given to the enemy?
Fictional enemy properties
First of all, the one who was appointed the enemy should cause acute distrust. And it doesn’t matter on what grounds. This may be appearance, skin color, language, belonging to another community or state. The main thing is that with any contact, even indirectly, with this person or group of people, the trigger must fire. Of course, the enemy should be to blame for everything. So in the Middle Ages, due to crop failure, they blamed sorcerers and witches, much later - “damned capitalists” or “damned communists”. Based on the mistrust and a priori guilt of the adversary, the conclusion follows that everything that is beneficial to the enemy harms us. On the contrary, it is also true. The image of the enemy in extreme cases suggests that absolutely all of his thoughts and actions serve one single purpose - to cause maximum harm and damage. An adversary does not eat or sleep, but only mischief and does all kinds of nasty things. All of these mindsets lead to the dehumanization of the enemy, the recognition that this is not really a person, or even not a person at all. Which gives a moral justification to rid yourself of any humane manifestations to him. What humanism can be in relation to a cockroach? Only merciless destruction.
Duration
The image of the enemy that arose once has a rather long life. Even when the active phase of the confrontation has long been completed and the opportunity has appeared to take a more objective look at the former enemy, this image continues to live in the minds and souls of people. Its consolidation in the mass consciousness is promoted primarily by people's emotions, negative expectations from the former enemy, prevailing stereotypes and stories about him at the household level. A fairly typical example is the attitude of Russians towards Germans, despite the past 70-odd years, or the games of American children in the war, where the French are still the adversary. And this is after a couple of centuries.
Usefulness of this image
The image of the enemy is useful for the leadership of society in two main aspects. The first is the ability to blame all the mistakes and mistakes made in the manual on the enemy. The negative attitude switches to an abstract or concrete enemy, which is especially important during periods of exacerbation of the social situation in society. The second is to ensure the unity of citizens or group members to protect against the intrigues of the enemy.
An unconvincing image of the enemy that clearly and unambiguously contradicts the objective and mass knowledge of a candidate for this position is extremely dangerous. Therefore, the formation of this image and its promotion to the masses has recently begun to be dealt with professionally. The results achieved are very impressive. A vivid example is the III Reich, when tens of millions of civilized people after processing became fanatics of very, very controversial ideas. These ideas led to mass violence and the deaths of millions who fit the description of the created image. Or, for example, the famous Stalinist trials of “enemies of the people”, when the vast majority of the country's population was simply jubilant about this.
General principles of creation
First of all, the need for the image of an external enemy arises as a result of real conflict situations when it is necessary to repulse the aggressor. Until the beginning of the 19th century, external wars were mainly the business of the autocrats and their armies. Ordinary peasants were, by and large, all the same, if only they would not rob. Then, gradually, the population became more and more involved in hostilities, creating the image of the enemy and fighting it with any means at hand. Including the "folk club" according to Count L. N. Tolstoy. In the years of serious trials, the formation of the image of the enemy in the mass consciousness initially occurs spontaneously, and then is heated by all possible means from the ruling elite. But in order to create this image out of real danger, quite serious efforts were required before. Since the 20th century, with the development of the media, this has become much easier. Creating the image of the enemy is carried out without violence, by means of influencing the emotions of people with well-developed techniques and technologies.
Technology
There are many people who claim that propaganda does not work on them. Alas, this is complete nonsense. They affect everyone, albeit with varying degrees of effectiveness. Moreover, when the vast majority considers black to white, it becomes simply dangerous to insist that white is white. So, what are the main methods used to propagate the image of the enemy? All of them are not distinguished by their ingenuity and scientific names, but they act very effectively on the mass consciousness. The method of unanimity - when the desire is presented as real and it is pretended that the vast majority considers it that way. The dumping of such information takes place under the flag of crystal evidence and the slogan "you know it all the same." Repeatedly repeated in various media information is firmly held in consciousness. Another method is the 40/60 principle, attributed to Goebbels. Its essence is to create a source of information that gives an uncomfortable truth in 60% of cases for gaining the confidence of the audience and in 40% of cases - a propaganda lie. To compromise the enemy, a method with a conditional name from a joke is used: "spoons were found, but the sediment remained." The enemy is accused of a terrible crime, provoking wide discussion. Even after it turns out that there was nothing of the kind, unpleasant associations remain in the subconscious of people. A very important role in creating the image of an external enemy is played by the so-called soft power. These are works of art that unobtrusively and gradually, through fictional characters of films and books, bring information about the sharply negative qualities of representatives of the nation or any other group of people in relation to whom this negative image is formed. A typical example is American films, representing Russians in a very unsympathetic way. There are many more methods and techniques for introducing the right thoughts and moods into people's heads to create the right mood. All of them are most effective with full or overwhelming control over the media. With all the seeming democracy, this control exists in all countries.