Tuesday, August 12, 2014

[vzputvno] Convenient common enemy

Israel is uniquely a country of recent immigrants from many cultures, with many traditions of Judaism often at odds with each other, most famously the special privileges of Orthodox Jews.  Without a unifying force, Israel could easily Balkanize into civil war.

Nothing unites a disparate group of people like a common enemy, e.g., colonial India versus the British.

Is it purely coincidence that the country that most needs such a common enemy is the one that most obviously has one?  If it is not a coincidence, then it seems it would require a powerful, sophisticated, long-term secret conspiracy doing fairly nefarious deeds:

Study whether the intensity of internal political disputes correlates with wars to distract people away from such disputes.

Wag the dog.

No comments :