Do You Need An Opponent?

Does having enemies make you better?

There’s a famous scene in Michael Jordan’s “The Last Dance” where he pretends like one player from the opposite team was trash talking him. “"Fast forward to decades past the incident and there's a rumor that this never happened," Wilbon said in the documentary. "LaBradford Smith never put his arm around Michael and said, 'Nice game, Mike.' A couple of writers went up to Michael and said, 'Did this ever happen?' And Michael with a smile was like, 'No, I made it up.’ ”(link).

He supposedly used it as fuel to perform better but does having enemies really make us perform better?

To actually answer this question you would probably need to do a scientific study looking at people with no active enemies and those that do and compare different metrics in their lives. All I can do is speak from a personal perspective and what I’ve observed so here we go.

Using myself as an example I don’t really like single player video games, but I’m addicted to video games when they are Player vs Player. I get a rush out of out strategizing and having more skill then my in-game opponents. It’s the same situation when I spar in the gym. Do I get the same feeling from single player games? No… Do I get that same feeling shadowboxing? No. If you have competent enemies do you elevate your focus to an almost unattainable level that you don’t have access to normally?

The United States

Looking at the history of the United States up until present times you would think they were the power rangers. The power rangers have a new enemy every episode, It’s almost like every other year there’s a new US enemy. Native American’s, Mexicans, Spain, Cuba, China (Qing), German Empire, Sandinistas, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Nazi Germany, Japanese Empire, Iraq, China (CCP), Afghanistan, North Korea, Soviet Union, Russia, North Vietnam, Viet Cong, Laos, Syria… THE LIST GOES ON AND ON.

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States

The United States is currently the most successful country in the world and they seem to love fighting people and making enemies. You could argue that the cold war was a period of greatness for the united states in terms of innovation and wealth gathering. Even after the Soviet Union fell they continued looking at the new born Russia as an enemy. So far as to support the Chechen rebels in the conflicts against Russia.

They even create enemies like the Viet Cong(link), Mujahedeen and the Japanese Empire. Does the US thrive on having enemies?

Restlessness

After Toyotomi Hideyoshi won countless battles and unified Japan there was no one else to fight. He understood that he had to give the blood thirsty Daimyo(Samurai lords) under him a new enemy because either they would end up fighting each other or fighting him and breaking up Japan once more. So he decided to get everyone together and attack Korea with the end goal of getting to China. Hideyoshi was smart, he knew that if you have an outside threat you won’t focus as much on the ones on the inside. Also, these weren’t regular men, these are warriors that have been fighting all their lives. The threat level from people like that are way higher then regular farmers.

The Samurai at that time thrived on conflict and they would try to get it in one this way or another. Sometimes I wonder if that’s what the current United States is unconsciously doing. Does having an outside enemy keep your citizens focused and united instead of fighting amongst each other. Even though Russia is not actually a threat military wise ( - nukes)… Do we have to pretend that it is for the country’s sake?

Thank you for reading… If you thought you were going to get solid answers from this article you won’t, I’m struggling with this myself. Though, I do agree that having enemies and a mission make you more focused. The highest level of focus I ever achieved in my life was during a military deployment. While this is true for me I have no solid evidence or know if it’s replicable in everyone. Maybe most people thrive when there is no enemy and only idiots like me require it.

“If an enemy did not exist, it would be necessary to invent one” -Nietzsche.

Or is it….