Enemies

 Enemies

Peter Schultz

From Daniel Ellsberg's book, Secrets:
"I heard her say, 'I come from a culture in which there is no concept
of enemy.

"A strange statement. Hardly comprehensible. No concept of
enemy? How about concepts of sun and moon, friend, water? I came
from a culture in which the concept of enemy was central, seemingly
indispensable - the culture of Rand, the U.S. Marine Corps, the
Defense and State Departments, international and domestic politics,
game theory, and bargaining theory. Identifying enemies,
understanding and predicting them so as to fight and control them
better, analyzing the relationship of abstract enemies: All that had
been for years my daily bread and butter, part of the air I breathed.
To try to operate in (a) world ... without the concept of enemy would
have seemed as difficult, as nearly inconceivable as doing
arithmetic, like the Romans, without a zero." (P. 211) (emphasis
added)

The regime, the way of life Ellsberg is in revolved around the concept
of enemy, the alleged reality of "enemies." And isn't that concept
intrinsic to the political? At least it was for Carl Schmitt, et.al. As
Ellsberg notices, the enemy concept permeates the U.S. way of life,
the U.S. regime and its thinking and institutions.