Citations Needed

Ep 218: The Siren Song of Rallying Around a 'Common Enemy' to Promote Progressive Causes


Listen Later

"Senate Weighs Investing $120 Billion in Science to Counter China," trumpeted The New York Times in 2021. "A New Economic Patriotism Can Help Unite Our Divided Congress," argued Newsweek in 2023. "US cedes ground to China with ‘self-inflicted wound’ of USAid shutdown, analysts say," cautioned The Guardian in 2025. In recent years, we’ve been exposed to the latest version of a centuries-old geopolitical message: We all have a common enemy, and we all need to unite to fight it by making our own country stronger. That enemy—most commonly China—is threatening to outpace, if it isn’t already outpacing, the US in infrastructural investment, educational programs, technological development, and elsewhere, and we need to devote millions, billions, even trillions of dollars to restoring the vitality of our institutions in order to reverse this trend. But why must defeating an "enemy" be the justification for policy that has the potential to benefit the public? Why should we just accept the premise that there must be an "enemy" to compete against and defeat? Why can’t policy be enacted for the sole purpose of improving people’s lives? And how does this messaging about the threat of a looming adversary serve the ruling class? On this episode, we detail the timeworn trope of the common enemy as a "unifying" device, looking at how increasingly so-called progressives are appealing to feel-good sentiments of unity and to the genuine needs for sound infrastructure, robust social safety nets, corporate regulation, and functional institutions in order to sell the idea that there is, and always will be, a shadowy bad guy that must be vanquished.  Our guest is historian, professor and author Greg Grandin.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Citations NeededBy Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

3,844 ratings


More shows like Citations Needed

View all
Jacobin Radio by Jacobin

Jacobin Radio

1,400 Listeners

The Dig by Daniel Denvir

The Dig

1,508 Listeners

Chapo Trap House by Chapo Trap House

Chapo Trap House

8,797 Listeners

Rev Left Radio by Revolutionary Left Radio

Rev Left Radio

3,236 Listeners

Trillbilly Worker's Party by Trillbilly Worker's Party

Trillbilly Worker's Party

1,870 Listeners

The Antifada by Sean KB and AP Andy

The Antifada

928 Listeners

Death Panel by Death Panel

Death Panel

527 Listeners

Red Menace by Red Menace

Red Menace

1,109 Listeners

Know Your Enemy by Matthew Sitman

Know Your Enemy

1,912 Listeners

TrueAnon by TrueAnon

TrueAnon

3,181 Listeners

Blowback by Blowback

Blowback

2,918 Listeners

This Machine Kills by This Machine Kills

This Machine Kills

202 Listeners

Bad Faith by Briahna Joy Gray

Bad Faith

2,669 Listeners

American Prestige by Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison

American Prestige

704 Listeners

The Deprogram by JT, Hakim, and Yugopnik

The Deprogram

1,006 Listeners