"Elphaba – when I first got here, there was discord and discontent. And where I come from, everyone knows: the best way to bring folks together is to give them a really good enemy." The Wizard Of Oz in Wicked.
"In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us." Nhất Hạnh, Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk
They say that love conquers all, but that only appears to work in personal relationships. In business, money conquers all, and in politics both money and tribalism conquer all. And the central focus of tribalism is dividing the world into heroes and villains. Fear and hatred can motivate entire nations when wielded powerfully enough, and we've seen that throughout history. Bottom line- we seem to have an innate need for someone to hate and blame our problems on besides ourselves.
I thought about this when watching the trailer for the new Wicked movie. Wicked takes the fable of the Wizard of Oz and turns it upside down. The villain, the Wicked Witch of the West, turns out to have been one a misunderstood heroine. And the good guy, the wizard, (Spoiler alert!) turns out to be an authoritarian villain who keeps power by demonizing one group of different creatures in Oz. Demonizing, or "otherizing" as is portrayed in the musical, is a popular trope both in Hollywood and politics. Disney and Marvel movies owe much of their success not to the heroes, but to the villains, whose menace and wickedness get our attention and produce high drama. The same dynamic can be seen in almost any action movie you can think of.
For many years, the bad guys in America, and in much of the world, were Jewish and African Americans. Fear of them drove many an election. World War II changed that somewhat when Nazi's and then Communists became the new boogeymen. When the Soviet Union collapsed, we needed a new group to hate, and Muslims came to the fore with 9/11.
Now it is 2024 and who are the demons that are haunting many dreams? Some of the old standbys, Jews, Blacks, and Gays have emerged to the point where it's not socially acceptable to openly disparage them, so folks have turned to the "woke" buzzword, attacking them indirectly. Now the most dangerous villains are illegal immigrants and transgender individuals. Trans people are convenient foils because they are few in number and little understood, while making most of us feel uncomfortable. But the worst vitriol is reserved for undocumented immigrants.
Illegal immigrants are the perfect enemy in a way because they are indeed law breakers in some cases (Though many are legitimately going through the asylum process.) They also can't vote and can't run for office. Haters claim that they bring disease, crime, drugs, illegal voting, and anything we can think to blame them for. Most of these claims are untrue, as crime, public health, and voting statistics have proven. But they have worked to scare the shit out of many Americans.
But here's America's dirty little secret when it comes to undocumented immigrants- our economy needs them and we know exactly where most of them are working. Since they aren't eligible for most public welfare programs, they have no choice but to work and become invisible to not bring attention to their status. Illegal immigrants pay into Social Security but can't collect it. They work physical, backbreaking jobs in the agricultural, construction, and service sectors that most Americans don't want. And they have to accept whatever employers will give them because they have basically no rights.
So would Donald Trump get rid of all of the illegals if elected? Of course not. He might stage some highly publicized, violent raids and get a lot of press coverage, but he won't meaningfully touch the workforce that hides in the dark underbelly of the American economy. Instead, he will keep lying and exaggerating about how bad things are and that only he can fix it. We've already had several chances to fix this issue, including one this year, but people prefer having someone to blame and complain about.
You would expect more from a nation that was built on the backs of continuous waves of immigration. The Irish, Mexicans, and Chinese were "othered" when they first arrived, but they and many more contributed to the diversity that is our unique strength. America has evolved past the need for a good enemy. Our challenges in the 21st century require a lot more friends.
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