Why do you see others as your enemy?

[Spirit of Light]

I am not making this OP to disrespect fallen soldiers or their family. I would not want to disrespect anyone who fallen in war.

But.
People speak of those people are my enemy or that country is our enemy. But have you been there to meet the people who you call enemy? Have they personally hurt you? ( if you been deployed in war, I get it, you would see them as enemy and I don't blame you for that, thank you for your service)

But for us who never come across the people we supposedly "have to see as enemy" in real life.
What make it possible to personally call someone you never met your enemy? This is what I do not understand.

I make the tread to understand where the "enemy" of our fellow human beings arise.

 

[Revoltingest]

I have a few enemies.
They try/tried to cheat/defraud me.

 

[Vinayaka]

I have a few enemies.
They try/tried to cheat/defraud me.

Bacon bribes?

 

[Spirit of Light]

I have a few enemies.
They try/tried to cheat/defraud me.

But why call them enemy? Disagree about their action, yes. But enemy?

 

[Revoltingest]

Bacon bribes?

Never offered to me.

 

[Vinayaka]

I am not making this OP to disrespect fallen soldiers or their family. I would not want to disrespect anyone who fallen in war.

But.
People speak of those people are my enemy or that country is our enemy. But have you been there to meet the people who you call enemy? Have they personally hurt you? ( if you been deployed in war, I get it, you would see them as enemy and I don't blame you for that, thank you for your service)

But for us who never come across the people we supposedly "have to see as enemy" in real life.
What make it possible to personally call someone you never met your enemy? This is what I do not understand.

I make the tread to understand where the "enemy" of our fellow human beings arise.

I believe many people, if not most, feel they have no enemies on a personal level. But on a more global mindset, the planet has enemies in fundamentalism, global warming deniers, and the like. So if you feel it's your duty to look out for humanity, you could see it that way. About the only action one can take, besides acting responsibly personally, is to vote.

 

[Revoltingest]

But why call them enemy? Disagree about their action, yes. But enemy?

They are enemy.
Hostile & thieving behavior earned them this status.
I roil with rage....which is always better than raging roids.

Note:
This is half a dozen or so people on a planet of many billions.
I have no political or religious enemies.
Although....I do have some dedicated foes (from their perspective).
I try to avoid interacting with them, preferring pleasant discourse.

 

[McBell]

I am not making this OP to disrespect fallen soldiers or their family. I would not want to disrespect anyone who fallen in war.

But.
People speak of those people are my enemy or that country is our enemy. But have you been there to meet the people who you call enemy? Have they personally hurt you? ( if you been deployed in war, I get it, you would see them as enemy and I don't blame you for that, thank you for your service)

But for us who never come across the people we supposedly "have to see as enemy" in real life.
What make it possible to personally call someone you never met your enemy? This is what I do not understand.

I make the tread to understand where the "enemy" of our fellow human beings arise.

How do you define the word "enemy"?

I suspect that you will find as many definitions as there are people.
Some people think of enemy as someone who must be eliminated at all costs.
Others think of an enemy as any who merely disagree with them.
And of course, there are all the positions in between these two.

 

[ChristineM]

I am not making this OP to disrespect fallen soldiers or their family. I would not want to disrespect anyone who fallen in war.

But.
People speak of those people are my enemy or that country is our enemy. But have you been there to meet the people who you call enemy? Have they personally hurt you? ( if you been deployed in war, I get it, you would see them as enemy and I don't blame you for that, thank you for your service)

But for us who never come across the people we supposedly "have to see as enemy" in real life.
What make it possible to personally call someone you never met your enemy? This is what I do not understand.

I make the tread to understand where the "enemy" of our fellow human beings arise.

I don't consider anyone I've never my an enemy.

I shall qualify that, i dont consider anyone i don't know about an enemy. For various reasons i have never met billions of people but some few of those people i know about, politicians for example, and some of them make my skin crawl

 

[Revoltingest]

On second thought...

 

[Spirit of Light]

How do you define the word "enemy"?

I suspect that you will find as many definitions as there are people.
Some people think of enemy as someone who must be eliminated at all costs.
Others think of an enemy as any who merely disagree with them.
And of course, there are all the positions in between these two.

People from other countries

 

[Secret Chief]

People from other countries

Isn't that a definition of "foreigner", not "enemy."

 

[Secret Chief]

if you been deployed in war, I get it, you would see them as enemy and I don't blame you for that, thank you for your service)

and
"But for us who never come across the people we supposedly "have to see as enemy" in real life.
What make it possible to personally call someone you never met your enemy?"

I can't see your distinction with civilian life. Soldiers invariably kill people they do not know. That is their job.
Also, it is common for the people of an "enemy country" to be demonised and/or made out to be inferior and/or made to seem less than human by the propaganda machine: makes it easier to kill.

 

[Quagmire]

Anyone who for any reason wishes me or mine harm is my enemy.

Anyone who seeks to profit at my expense is also my enemy, even if they don't specifically wish me any ill will.

Calling someone "enemy" just identifies them as a threat, it doesn't necessarily require hatred or animosity on either part.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Isn't that a definition of "foreigner", not "enemy."

Yes but the problem I see is that some people or government say example people from Arabic countries are enemies, or people from China is our enemy. But are all Arabic and Chinese people their enemy? Or is it because someone told them that they are?

 

[Secret Chief]

Yes but the problem I see is that some people or government say example people from Arabic countries are enemies, or people from China is our enemy. But are all Arabic and Chinese people their enemy? Or is it because someone told them that they are?

Politics is war without the bullets. The citizenry and soldiers need to think what the governments want them to think (for various reasons - resources, status, domestic distraction, the leader is an idiot...)

 

[Spirit of Light]

Politics is war without the bullets. The citizenry and soldiers need to think what the governments want them to think (for various reasons - resources, status, domestic distraction, the leader is an idiot...)

Maybe that is a reason I never been in the military

 

[Secret Chief]

Maybe that is a reason I never been in the military

And the reason for governmental supression of internal dissenters (real, imagined or potential).

 

[Spirit of Light]

And the reason for governmental supression of internal dissenters (real, imagined or potential).

I had to go to the police for questioning and same with the military. But I was never going to be accepted in to military because of medical issues.

 

[JustGeorge]

I can't think of someone in another country as my enemy. I have never been to another country, so have no reason to feel that kind of emotion towards anyone in another country. If I disagree with a country's politics or culture, I remember that I don't usually agree with my own country's politics or culture, so the views being presented of another place's government or ideals doesn't necessarily accurately represent of the average citizen in that country.