The illusion of enmity and the power of narratives

Living together in a modern community is a constant miracle, as countless individuals with completely different lifestyles and personal truths cope with a functioning everyday life. Despite the infinite variety of characters and beliefs, people manage to create peaceful structures, but this is achieved through targeted social divisionsis increasingly at risk.

The complexity of human interaction

Each individual lives in their own personal reality, shaped by individual experiences, deep injuries and their own hopes. It seems almost like a superhuman achievement that people are even able to recognize and respect the realities of their fellow human beings. Often it is structural framework conditions such as political systems or economic constraints,that make this understanding difficult. Nevertheless, social interaction works far better than the first glance suggests.

The invisible walls of perception

In one’s own life, everyone plays the leading role, while in the existence of others, he is only a minor character. If the thoughts of all passengers were made visible in a crowded morning bus, the enormous diversity of life realities would become apparent. What is a small inconvenience for one person robs the other of sleep and joie de vivre. A new lawcan elicit deep relief in one while bringing the other’s blood to a boil.

The mechanism of social division

The real challenge of a community is not only to tolerate this diversity, but to actively appreciate it. At the state level, this is reflected in laws, but the political-media space exerts an even greater influence on public opinion. This is precisely where the polarization that builds deep walls between people comes in. These barriersmake it impossible to understand or appreciate the reality of the other person.

The Invention of the Eternal Adversary

Science describes this process as a process in which normal diversity is aligned along a single axis. People are starting to look at politics and society only in the context of Us versus Them. Artificial groups are created that are based on characteristics such as ethnicity, faith or political camps. These bearings are designed because thethe real strength of a society lies in the natural diversity of its members.

The staging of the struggle for existence

Political and media actors simply maintain this division by constantly thematizing it, which is what really creates it in the minds of citizens. There is no natural separation from which to act, but the narrative of hostility is actively generated. This state of affairs replaces pragmatic politics and tolerance with an existential struggle.such patterns of thought on concepts that already in the last century declared the friend-foe distinction to be the core of politics.

The encounter serves its purpose in the contact itself.

In this worldview, the political struggle is purely existential, because one’s own way of life supposedly has to be protected from the enemy. The construction of an opponent becomes the absolute raison d ‘être of one’s own collective. Without this defined enemy, the group would merely be a collection of individuals without inner unity. In this understanding, policy depends solely on theReadiness for war of the threatening groups.

Escape from self-responsibility

Such thinking corresponds to the lowest level of human consciousness, since the individual has neither his own identity nor fixed values. One’s own values are defined exclusively by the rejection of another person. Those who think this way have no real self-confidence, but only project devaluation onto others in order to feel themselves. He doesn’t know anything about himselfeven about his counterpart.

The absurdity of the zero-sum game

The emotions generated by this belief, such as anger, fear or hatred, may feel real, but the underlying story is an illusion. Your own energy is wasted devaluing others instead of building your own life. At the heart of this thinking is the absurd assumption that one’s own group can only be better off if others are worse off.However, community always works best when all people can live in safety and dignity.

The Global Consequences of Hostility

This logic applies at every level, from the small family to the entire state. On a global scale, this narrative has long been a dangerous misconception of certain Western powers. For centuries, they believed that they could take resources and dignity from other regions of the world without any consequences. However, such behaviors inevitably retaliate in the form ofworldwide crises, conflicts and refugee movements.

The blindness of one’s own beliefs

The continuous operation of this narrative inevitably leads to violence, crime and the dismantling of democratic structures. A democracy can only survive if it enables all people to live a good life, but many parties still use this divisive strategy. Our perception of the world is strongly influenced by those groups whose political camps we support.sees only a tiny part of reality, namely the part that fits your own beliefs.

The Invisible Funnel of Perception

This pattern can be explained by the human tendency to process information in such a way that it confirms one’s own view of the world. People do not look at the world with their eyes, but through the filters that sit deep inside them. One can think of this as an invisible funnel on the head, which only allows information to pass through that is necessary for one’s own inner attitudefor example, if you hold a certain belief about another person, you will automatically reinterpret or ignore every nice gesture made by that person.

The Stability of Inner Beliefs

The mind always finds explanations so as not to let its own firm opinion be shaken by real facts. Inner narratives are extremely stable and resist contradictory evidence. Those who firmly believe in being unlovable will also ignore repeated affections and cling to their negative self-image. Stories beat facts because the inner monsteralways seeks only those evidence that supports one’s own story.

The historical continuity of the lie

The fact that internal stories displace facts is not a new phenomenon, but runs throughout human history. Societies have always been prone to narrative truths that elude objective reality. Only the Internet makes it possible to spread such stories in billions of repetitions and to permanently confirm one’s own world view.in the past, only a few rulers benefited from polarization, today entire media houses and political movements use these mechanisms.

The new dimension of manipulation

A growing problem is the use of artificial intelligence for the targeted dissemination of false information. Certain state actors are already using this technology to place pro-Russian narratives in the responses of digital assistants. Whoever controls the narratives has the power, and technology amplifies this effect immeasurably. Even powerful billionairesuse their platforms and train their own systems according to ideological guidelines to influence political results.

The profitable use of division

Such actors deliberately spread messages that they recognize as useful to their political allies, even if they contradict the truth. They fill people’s perception filters with fabricated facts, which pays off massively financially and politically. The enormous asset growth of such investors shortly after elections proves that the business with the split more thanhowever, reality is always more complex than the simple narratives presented to us on a daily basis.

The path to personal insight

These narratives only survive because we don’t recognize them for what they really are. Discovering them in your own life and exposing them as lies is therefore a decisive step towards liberation. The only way to dissolve such patterns on a personal level is through honest work on one’s own self. Who understands that he has seen the world through the wrong glasses so farhas perceived, changes this perspective only by recognizing the truth.

The staging in everyday political life

In political competition, parties must differentiate themselves, but in polarization, this is done through the deliberate devaluation of others. A vivid example of this is the behaviour of certain conservative politicians who systematically declare their political opponents to be enemies. Public statements then focus almost exclusively on why the other groupCountry into ruin. Coalition exclusions and personal disparagement replace any factual debate.

Ignorance of reality

In such messages, only friend-enemy thinking counts, while factual errors or incorrect responsibilities are simply ignored. The narrative of the evil opponent is far stronger than any facts. Even if a newly formed government later implements exactly the same economic measures as the previously fought opponent, this will remain as an enemy image.Marking as an enemy is completely detached from real events and only serves to secure one’s own power.

The triad of authoritarian power

Authoritarian figures and polarizing democrats have perfected a perfidious triad: they divide society, construct culprits, and present themselves as saviors. This construct of lies serves exclusively to gain and maintain one’s own power, while the well-being of the population does not matter. Even after assuming governmental responsibility, this game isby making the media, courts or other states responsible for their own mistakes. Such forces do not have to make good policies to stay in power.

The warnings before disintegration

This pattern is also being served at the European level by calling for the demise of the community and blaming certain groups or political opponents. Researchers warn that a fixed proportion of the electorate in any democracy is vulnerable to such anti-democratic votes. The crucial question is how the democratic forces with thisAvoid seductive power. It is often extremely tempting for established people with political responsibilities to ally themselves with such divisive forces in order to gain influence themselves.

The subjugation of moderate forces

A historical example of this process can be seen in the development of a large American People’s Party, which once united moderate currents. Within a few years, dissenting opinions within this party were systematically suppressed and members were branded as unfaithful. Anyone who does not submit unconditionally must leave the party, whereby any internal controllost. Former opponents adapt or give way to power because the successful policy of division promises offices and influence.

The dangerous balancing act of the middle

Although the majority of the population rejects such an authoritarian path, the subjugation of political structures often leads to the electoral success of the splitters. In other countries, established politicians try an absurd balancing act, on the one hand by distancing themselves from extreme forces. On the other hand, they take over their divisive positions and play the dangerous game ofEnmity. In doing so, they serve the mechanism that ultimately destroys society from within.