Anatomy of your Enemy by anti-flag.

Ten easy steps to create an enemy and start a war:

1. Create the enemy, sometimes this will be done for you.

2. Be sure the enemy that you have chosen is nothing like you. Find obvious differences like race, language, religion, dietary habits, fashion. Emphasize that their soldiers are not doing a job. They are heartless murderers who enjoy killing.

3. Once these differences are established, continue to reinforce them with all disseminated information.

4. Have the media broadcast only the ruling party’s information. This can be done through state run media. Remember in times of conflict all for-profit media repeats the ruling party’s information. Therefore all for-profit media becomes state run.

5. Show this enemy in actions that seem strange, militant, or different. Always portray the enemy as non-human, evil, a killing machine.

6. Eliminate all opposition to the ruling party. Create an “us versus them” mentality. Leave no room for opinions in between. One that does not support all actions of the ruling party should be considered a traitor.

7. Use nationalistic, and/or religious symbols in rhetoric to define all actions. This can be achieved with slogans such as “freedom loving people vs. those who hate freedom.” This can also be achieved with the use of flags.

8. Align all actions with a dominant deity. It is very effective to use terms like “it is God’s will” or “God bless our nation.”

9. Design propaganda to show that your soldiers have feelings, hopes, families, and loved ones. Make it clear that your soldiers are doing a duty. They do not want or like to kill.

10. Create an atmosphere of fear and instability. Then offer the ruling party as the only solution to comfort the public’s fears. Remembering the fear of the unknown is always the strongest fear.

We are not countries. We are not nations. We are not religions. We are not gods. We are not weapons. We are not ammunition. We are not killers. We will not be tools.