Study Guide: Sam Keen, Faces of the Enemy
|
Study Guide: Sam Keen, Faces of the Enemy |
Faces of the Enemy by Sam Keen challenges us to think about national and personal enmity as they lead to violence and war. Keen's approach requires us to reorient our ideas about war and consider with care the way we first create enemies.
Study Questions | Topics for Further Research | Videos
1. What evidence does Keen provide throughout the book to support the assertion in his introductory poem that, "When your icon of the enemy is complete you will be able to kill without guilt, slaughter without shame" (9)?
2. Keen asks whether we create or find enemies. How does the answer to that question explain why and when we go to war?
3. What kinds of words, images, and metaphors do we construct to identify the Other as an enemy? How are these words, images, and metaphors different from the way we describe ourselves and our allies?
4. Does the way we name the enemy make it easier to justify killing the Other?
5. Keen argues that enemy-making involves polarization--making ourselves the opposite of our enemy. Do you see evidence of polarization in public discussions of Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, or other leaders in the Middle East with whom we disagree?
6. Why do nations claim that "God is on our side"? If every nation makes this claim, how are we to know who is right?
7. Is there such a thing as a "just" war? Be prepared to explain your answer.
8. Most wars in which the United States has been involved have been justified because the U.S. saw itself as innocent and the opponents as guilty; the U.S. was there to help the victims of villainy while the opponents were there for selfish reasons. Has this always been an accurate description of the U.S. and its opponents? If you are from another country, answer this question from the perspective of your own nation.
9. Why do nations justify war as a contest between the forces of Good and the forces of Evil? What are the consequences of this conception of Self and Other?
10. Should you defend your country, right or wrong? Should duty to country or personal conscience be valued more highly? What are the implications of answering these questions as you did?
11. Would viewing our opponent as a worthy enemy change the nature of modern warfare?
12. Should the blame for war always be placed on the leaders? If not, who is to blame? Are there ways in which individual "non-combatants" are responsible for national wars?
13. How does Keen's discussion of enmity apply to your own behavior?
14. Is war inevitable? What would have to happen to end warfare as a method for settling disputes?
15. How would we need to change the family, education, government, economics and the relations between the sexes if we wanted to create people who were less inclined to warfare and more inclined to alternative ways of settling problems?
16. How might better understanding of our enemy change the face of war?
17. What skills are necessary if we want to resolve conflicts without resorting to war or personal violence against those who are different from ourselves?
These questions are drawn from Faces of the Enemy and a study guide to the book and film developed by Sam Keen. You might also want to view the PBS documentary film Faces of the Enemy produced by Bill Jersey and Sam Keen.
· Identify Words Of Enmity: Go through the newspaper for the last two days and mark any words that suggest that you should fear, hate, judge, mistrust, blame, or feel superior to another person or group. Who is depicted in the news stories as villainous? Who is heroic? Do any descriptions of the Other encourage understanding, compassion, or sympathy?
· Watch one of the four propaganda films noted below. What do we learn about the enemy in each of these films? Does the message about the enemy distinguish between leaders, combatants, and non-combatants? Is anything good said about the enemy? If there is a hero in the film, what characterizes the hero?
· Research patterns of war propaganda. You might want to look at Jacques Ellul, Propaganda.
· Research scapegoating. Is there a common pattern in scapegoating that crosses cultures and time?
Videos-on reserve at Hatfield Library
Know your enemy: the Viet Cong (Armed Forces Information Service, 1980, 22 mins.) Call no: DS558.5 .K56 1980
Know your enemy--Japan [United States War Department, 1945, 63 mins.) Call no: D767.2 .K56 1985
Der Ewige Jude [The eternal jew] (dir. Fritz Hippler, 1938, 62 min. Call no: DS135.G3315 E8 1988
Communist blueprint for conquest: The Communist weapon of allure: Communist target youth (Dept. of Defense, 1956-62, 103 mins.) Call no: HX518.S8 C65 1987