Are the United States incapable of being united without an outside enemy?

[Lynx122]

It feels like it's the most divided country on the planet unless there's someone they can all hate together.

Today I heard someone be nostalgic about post 9/11 America because people were more united back then. And they said something like that would come back soon. I was kinda shocked but it does make sense in a way. In a country that can turn anything into a fight where you need to chose a side, sooner or later you need something to bring people back together.

There's a political spectrum in every country but the amount of polarization seems unique to me in the U. S. People being against something just because their political "enemies" are for it. It's extreme. Israel Palestine, Covid Vaccinations and masks, abortion , any kind of gender identity or sexuality topic, race, immigration, guns etc. etc. The list is endless.

I thought the U. S. was messing around all over the world just for influence and resources but maybe they're actually not capable of just existing without fighting someone, which is a scary thought. Because the more decline that happens, the more war will be an escape and I don't wanna be around when that goes down.

[Flatmanlewis]

Our diversity it also our weakness in some ways. We are a monumentally peaceful society given that diversity and yet at the same time there is very little which represents a universal truth among us all as Americans.


I absolutely think we are capable as citizens of this nation but there is tremendous power and wealth to be gained by increasing this separation of people and division. There are literally people who serve no other purpose except to stoke the fires of anger and rhetoric about any one of a dozen issues. Shut those people up and quickly things feel better.


How do I know? In those environments where politics and social issues aren’t debated - a kids little league game, amusement parks, large concerts and comedy shows, and the like - people can all get along well. We all like to go out and have a great time with our families and friends. Our differences are almost never noticeable or important enough to create conflict on sight. It’s only when a shirt, hat, flag, or screaming idiot starts interjecting their thoughts (usually opinions only held by a few at the extreme ends of the political spectrum) in the wrong forum that things can go downhill.


I think we CAN get along just fine, but those who thrive on this division are all our mutual
Enemies. We need to shut them up so the rest of us can have civilized conversations.

[BarryLiverstone]

The USA is mostly United. What you hear are extremes and not normal life. Most people are civil and respectful in the US to each other.

[dustybiker2]

Nope. Even natural disasters are only effective for a short time.

[laly520]

not even an outside enemy could save it now

unfortunately

[Lliam]

That's a really good question and astute observation.

It certainly worked during WWII. And it worked after the 911 false flag. But it didn't work during wars like Viet Nam and it's not working with fear of Russia or support for Ukraine or Israel.

If anything, since WWII, the U. S. government has been at war to support the arms industry and international banking establishment. It doesn't even care about public sentiment or what's best for the country.

And the corporation of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is really good at declaring war against its own citizens with things like militarized police, secret FBI and CIA operations, the war on drugs, the war on terrorism, the war against covid, the war against farmers and ranchers, prohibitions against living off the grid and self sustainability, the war against CO2, the war against free speech and free thought, efforts to become a colony of Israel, a war against the Bill of Rights, ...

Fewer and fewer people believe in America's moral superiority or that it represents human rights and democracy. It has lied and done monstrous things too many times.

So I'm not sure that an outside enemy will work anymore in uniting people. If anything, a truly great threat may trigger anarchy.

[Anonymous]

Common enemies is a common way to get almost any set of people to put aside their differences and even sacrifice some of their needs to deal with with the threat.

This only goes soo far, thou eventually your differences and what you sacrifice together get soo big that your can't make a common enemy more threatening then the demands of the common goverment.

As this bar is as high as what you can make others believe about a common enemy you have never really seen, and thus the amount real disagreement and hardship people must endure must be higher still.

Our differences really come down to a broad of incompatible and harmful policy differences which originate in the realities of our different geographic and thus economic and cultural conditions.

The number of differences have actually been reduced over the last 200+ years. Its just the number of issue on which we are forced to 'agree' has gone from few and defined to nearly limitless and undefined.

People change but geographic reality is mostly the same. You simply can't ban guns in a rural region where there are almost no other people around to deal with threats.

Nor can you tolerate soo much freedom in an urban region where there are too many different people who don't know each-other to avoid strict rules.

Because without a real constitution we can no longer get both sides to accept this fact they are forced to fight over everything all the time. Thus without the borders of law we require the borders of men.

[Chazmatazz269]

Even another terrorist event like 9/11 couldn’t unite US citizens now. Look at how divided we are over Russia & Ukraine, Israel & Palestine. Even 9/11, now looking back people are very divided on what actually happened and who is actually responsible. Covid could have united people, but some love China too much to point the finger, and others were ready to blame a foreign “enemy” before all the facts were out.
Everyone is living in their own delusions based almost entirely on political narratives. What actually happens means nothing. How the politicians and media spin it means everything, and everything gets spun.

[Lynx122]

Yes I think Covid was way more crazy in the U. S. than in most other places. There are always a few people who go crazy everywhere but the amount of people who were against vaccines and masks in the U. S. seemed a lot bigger at least from an outside view. And they were more extreme in their actions.

[Syntosi]

I mean you are not entirely wrong, but also you are missing something.

What is really the difference between an external enemy or an internal one? Yes, USA has historically used wars to unify the population against outside threats, but at the same time what makes you think the current internal division is any less artificial?

So no, I do not think an outside enemy would save USA at this stage. In fact, there are already two of them to choose from. Russia thanks to the war in Ukraine and China thanks to Taiwan. The problem I think you will find is that unlike what happened during 9/11 where people banded together against an outside threat, they now band together with the outside threat against the other side.

While I would not go as far as a civil war, the current internal division IS the new artificially created "9/11".

[DarkLegacy]

Well it is a very big country with lots of different cultures and stuff. It does not help that they have different laws on big issues from state to state such as on abortion the death penalty and lots of over things as well. I don't know everything about how it works but if im correct you can have different gun laws, ages of consent and buying certain products.

[NaultD]

You do remember osama Bin ladin was an allie to the CIA fighting the old USSR?

Here we are today disbanding tiktok on the open being own by china in reality Palestinians in Gaza have global news being brutalized by Israeli for a genocide with usa support.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/a69Qp5eGtZc

[Grond21]

The right has not changed its position very much at all. The left has gone completely insane. So if we could end the left and they're etiological influence, getting back to a more balanced political spectrum? That would take care of it nicely

[normalice]

All we'd really need to do is rei state the fairness doctrine and reverse the citizens united ruling. It would take a while for the currently active flames to die out but it would be inevitable..

[normalice]

*reinstate

[exitseven]

It is a big country and lots have happened since 9/11. The country has been purposely divided by the democrats. They pit one group against another. Biden has given billions to wipe out student debt, yes veterans are living on the street. Obama cast white men as evil and everyone should hate them. No wonder the country is divided

[SotiCoto]

You're describing humanity right there. It isn't just an American thing.

[Lynx122]

I don't think so. The potential is there for sure but there are a lot of factors that make this problem a lot worse in the U. S.

[Anonymous]

You call it divided. I like to think of it as target practice. This is how we stay battle ready.😆

[Lynx122]

Oh that's smart XD

[DrPepper12]

Most divided? Maybe. I can think of a few more that are worse with that. As far as leaving it, I told my kids to live abroad; don't be here for the collapse of empire.

[Massageman]

"Funny how that works, huh Rock", observes Bullwinkle.

[RedInnocent69]

Evidently not. God help us that the Trumpty dumbties this the Commies are just misunderstood…

[Anonymous]

It certainly seems like it.