5. Manufactured Division: How Society is Engineered to Keep You Distracted
Every generation is given an enemy.
The poor. Immigrants. A foreign country. A different political party.
You are told that these are the people ruining your life—that if they weren’t taking up resources, stealing jobs, committing crimes, or voting the “wrong way,” things would be better for you.
But this is by design.
As long as you are busy fighting the wrong enemy, you will never turn against the real one—the ruling class that benefits from your suffering. The ultra-wealthy, the corporate elite, and those who hold power need you to hate someone other than them. Because if people ever realized that their real enemy is the system itself, they would revolt.
This is divide-and-conquer. It’s the oldest trick in the book, and it still works.
The Oldest Strategy in the World: Keeping the People Distracted
For thousands of years, rulers have known that the easiest way to maintain power is not through violence or force—it’s by turning people against each other.
The Roman Empire kept the poor from revolting by giving them free entertainment—"bread and circuses"—while blaming societal problems on outsiders.
Medieval kings kept peasants from rebelling by turning them against each other based on class, religion, or ethnicity.
Colonial powers pitted native groups against one another to prevent unified resistance.
And today? Nothing has changed.
The ruling class still uses the same strategy, except now, it’s executed with modern tools: mass media, propaganda, education systems, and digital algorithms designed to keep people fighting one another instead of questioning the system.
How Manufactured Division Works in Modern Society
You are not supposed to question the ultra-wealthy, the corporations that exploit you, or the politicians who serve them. Instead, you are told to blame:
1. The Poor: “They’re Draining the System”
One of the most successful divide-and-conquer tactics is turning working-class people against the poor.
“Welfare queens.” You are told that poor people are lazy and living off government benefits, while corporations receive billions in subsidies without question.
“They don’t want to work.” You are encouraged to resent low-wage workers instead of questioning why billionaires hoard wealth and refuse to pay fair wages.
“If I have to work hard, why shouldn’t they?” Instead of asking why anyone should struggle, people are trained to believe suffering is normal and that others should suffer too.
Meanwhile, the real drain on resources isn’t the poor—it’s corporations that pay no taxes, billionaires who hide their wealth, and government programs that exist to funnel money to the top.
But the working class is too busy resenting the poor to see it.
2. Immigrants: “They’re Taking Your Jobs”
Another classic distraction tactic is to blame immigrants for economic instability.
Wages are low? Blame immigrants—not the billionaires who set wages.
Healthcare costs are rising? Blame immigrants—not the private insurance industry.
Crime rates? Blame immigrants—not the fact that poverty and inequality drive crime.
This tactic keeps the working class divided. Instead of seeing that corporations use immigration as a tool to drive wages down while maximizing profits, people turn on each other.
The ruling class benefits either way. If people fight to keep immigrants out, corporations can keep wages low due to “labor shortages.” If people fight for immigrant labor, corporations exploit them for cheap wages. The people lose no matter what.
3. Political Parties: “It’s All the Other Side’s Fault”
The two-party system is one of the most effective distraction tools in history.
Every election cycle, people are told that if they don’t vote for their party, the country will collapse.
Every crisis is blamed on the other party—never on corporate interests or the billionaire class that funds both sides.
Policy debates are framed as moral battles to keep people emotionally invested, rather than questioning why both parties serve the same economic system.
Meanwhile, behind closed doors:
Corporations fund both parties.
Wall Street gets bailouts, no matter who is in power.
The military-industrial complex keeps expanding.
Wages remain stagnant.
The illusion of opposition keeps people fighting battles that don’t challenge the system itself.
4. Foreign Enemies: “They’re the Real Threat”
Whenever people start questioning their own government or economy, the ruling class introduces a new enemy.
Russia. China. Iran. Terrorists. Drug cartels.
A new war. A new global crisis. A new justification for military spending.
This strategy does two things:
It shifts attention away from domestic corruption. People focus on external “threats” instead of questioning their own leaders.
It justifies government overreach. Surveillance, censorship, military spending, and loss of rights are all justified in the name of “safety.”
Meanwhile, the ruling class profits. War creates massive revenue for defense contractors, and media companies fuel fear to drive engagement.
Every generation is given a different external enemy, but the goal is always the same: keep the public from turning against the true rulers of their lives.
The Result: A Society That Can’t Unite Against the Real Enemy
The ruling class does not fear elections. It does not fear protests.
What it truly fears is unification.
If the working class, the middle class, and the disenfranchised ever realized they were fighting the same battle, the entire system would collapse.
If workers refused to be pitted against the poor…
If citizens refused to hate immigrants…
If political parties lost their ability to divide the public…
If people questioned why wars are always profitable but healthcare is “too expensive”…
Then power would shift.
And that’s exactly why the system works so hard to keep people divided.
How to Break Free from Manufactured Division
Once you see through the illusion, you can no longer be manipulated by it. Here’s how to break the cycle:
Recognize distraction tactics. Any time a crisis emerges, ask: “Who benefits from this narrative?”
Question narratives about enemies. Are immigrants, the poor, or foreign nations really the problem, or is the system keeping people divided?
Look for common ground. If a policy or crisis is framed as a "left vs. right" issue, step back—who profits from the division?
Refuse to participate in manufactured outrage. Instead of getting caught in ideological battles, focus on exposing who actually holds power.
The ruling class does not want you to see this. They need you fighting each other. They need you divided.
Because the moment you stop blaming each other and start blaming them—
The game is over.
Sources
Divide and Rule: The Historical Use of Manufactured Division - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/divide-and-rule-strategies/
The Psychological Effects of Manufactured Enemies - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201802/how-propaganda-manufactures-enemies
The Two-Party System and Corporate Influence - https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/10/follow-the-money-2020-election/
How Media Reinforces Division for Profit - https://www.cjr.org/special_report/media-profit-polarization.php
Economic Distractions: How the Rich Keep the Poor Fighting Each Other - https://www.epi.org/publication/who-benefits-from-economic-division/
War as a Profitable Distraction - https://www.brookings.edu/research/why-war-is-big-business/
