“The first casualty of war is innocence.”
- Plato
Before you can convince a population to kill, you must first convince them that the target deserves to die. This is the function of the enemy image. It is not enough to say “they are our enemies.” You must make them look like enemies, sound like enemies, smell like enemies. You must strip them of their humanity one headline at a time.
The Dehumanization Ladder
The enemy image follows a predictable progression:
Step 1: Differentiation. “They are not like us.” Point out differences in appearance, language, religion, customs. What was once neutral becomes suspicious.
Step 2: Negative Attribution. “They are not like us, and that makes them bad.” They are lazy, greedy, violent, primitive, cunning, or paradoxically too successful. The specific accusation does not matter as long as it is negative.
Step 3: Criminalization. “They are not just different they are dangerous.” They are criminals, terrorists, infiltrators. Their very existence is a threat.
Step 4: Dehumanization. “They are not human.” They are rats. Cockroaches. Vermin. Disease. Parasites. Once a population is dehumanized, any violence against them becomes not just acceptable but necessary.
Case Study: Nazi Germany
The most documented enemy-image campaign in history. The Jews were portrayed as:
- Greedy bankers controlling the world economy
- Communist revolutionaries trying to destroy Germany
- A foreign race polluting Aryan blood
- A disease that needed to be excised
All four accusations were contradictory. But propaganda does not need to be consistent. It needs to be total.
The result was the Holocaust.
Case Study: The War on Terror
After 9/11, the US needed an enemy. Osama bin Laden was the individual target, but the enemy image was broader: “radical Islamic terrorism.” The phrase conflated a religion (Islam) with a political ideology (extremism) with a criminal act (terrorism). Overnight, Muslims became suspicious. Mosques were surveilled. Airport security targeted anyone who looked “Middle Eastern.”
The US invaded Afghanistan. Then Iraq. The enemy image expanded to cover anyone who resisted the invasion. “Insurgents.” “Jihadists.” “Bad guys.” The vagueness was the point. A vague enemy can be anywhere. And if the enemy can be anywhere, then any place can be bombed.
Scapegoating: The Political Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card
When the ruling class screws up, it needs someone to blame. That is the scapegoat.
Economic crisis? It is the immigrants. It is the Jews. It is the foreign investors. It is the people on welfare. Anyone except the people who actually made the decisions.
The scapegoat has two functions:
- Absolves the rulers - “It is not our fault. It is their fault.”
- Unites the base - “We may have our differences, but at least we are not them.”
This is why scapegoating is universal. Every government does it. Every political movement does it. The only variable is who the scapegoat is.
René Girard, in The Scapegoat (1982), argued that scapegoating is fundamental to human society. Communities resolve internal tensions by projecting them onto a single victim, then expelling or destroying that victim. The cycle repeats. It always repeats.
Real Example: Ethiopia, 2020–2022
During the Tigray War, both sides engaged in enemy image propaganda. The federal government framed the TPLF as a “cancer” that needed to be “removed.” The TPLF framed Abiy Ahmed as a dictator allied with foreign powers. Each side dehumanized the other. And civilians on both sides paid the price.
The enemy image does not need to be true. It just needs to be believable to the people you want to move.
How to Fight It
- Insist on full names. “The enemy” is not a person. “The other side” is not a group. When someone is described in the abstract, they are being set up for dehumanization.
- Look for the humanity. Every enemy image works by stripping the target of human qualities. Restore them mentally. That “terrorist” has a family. That “criminal” has a childhood. That “rat” is a person.
- Ask: who benefits? The enemy image always serves someone. Who gains from you hating this group?
- Refuse the language. When someone uses dehumanizing terms like cockroaches, vermin, disease call it out. Refuse to repeat it. The first step to stopping an enemy image is refusing to participate in it. ( this sound so cliche like some 19’s bullying ad but it’s true regardless)
coming soon… Language and Framing — Propaganda 101