Running head: IN ORDER TO HAVE POWER, YOU DONT NEED TO MAKE ENEMIES

In Order To Have Power, You Dont Need To Make Enemies

Enemy Making: The Iceberg and Intolerance
True Lee
Alverno College

IN ORDER TO HAVE POWER, YOU DONT NEED TO MAKE ENEMIES

As a student of Alverno College for my Professional Communication, General Semantics
Enemy Making: The Iceberg and Intolerance paper, I chose to write about the Secret War
during the Vietnam War. In order to have power, you do not need to make enemies. I will be
using the ladder of abstraction diagram framework from the class text Language in Thought
and Action and my knowledge in my paper. Besides using the class text and Faces of the Enemy,
a film that I watched in class, I found three additional sources. The three additional sources that
I found are The CIA and the Secret War in Laos: The Battle for Skyline Ridge, Hmong in
America: Journey from a Secret War, and The Vietnam War: A National Dilemma.
Creating enemies is just like the process of abstracting, leaving characteristics out to
illustrate another example (Hakayawa, 1990). Just like the abstraction ladder diagram, the
higher the step, the more valuable the term becomes. For example, before Bessie becomes
wealth, Bessie went from being cow, livestock, farm assets, and to asset. To abstract
something is to narrow it down to one broad idea. Before an enemy becomes an enemy, she is
a stranger, then an acquaintance, then a friend. We as humans, in society, like to put labels on
everything.
Where there is a good guy there will always be a bad guy because good guys need bad
guys (Faces of the Enemy, 1987). Youre either good or bad; you cant be bothOne side is
painted as benign, the other, malevolent; one leader is labeled hero, another villain (Pfaff,
1995). The quote, How is it that innocent become enemies because he needed an enemy
(Faces of the Enemy,1987) can relate to the Americans and Hmong people who got involved
with the Vietnam War.

IN ORDER TO HAVE POWER, YOU DONT NEED TO MAKE ENEMIES

The Hmong people are a hill tribe who live up in the mountains of the Ho Chi Minh.
Dating back, Hmong never had a country to start off with. Hmong got involved in the Secret
War during the Vietnam War from 1960 to 1975. Before Bill Lair, CIA (Central Intelligence
Agency), took charge of the Hmong guerrilla, he made a proposal to General Vang Pao,
Hmongs leader: if they win this war, Hmong will get a country of their own. If they lose the
war, Americans will provide shelter and a home for Hmong. It was a win-win situation for both
the CIA and Hmong. The CIA needed the Hmong people because they lived in the Northern Laos
so they know the Ho Chi Minh Trail well. Hmong soldiers blocked supplies headed for South
Vietnam and served as the primary anti-communist force in Laos (Pfaff, 1995).
The Vietnam War started because Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnams Prime Minister at
the time, became their President and was a Catholic and not a Buddhist.Diem was a Catholic
leader of a Buddhist country (Cantu, D.A &S., 2003). Many within the military,includingthe
officers corps,threatened the stability of new Diem government (Cantu, D.A & S., 2003). By
December 1960 the new revolutionary organization, The Liberation Front or Viet Cong, was
founded because of Diems isolation from the people.In 1963,after the Diem government was
overthrown, he, his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu, and President Kennedy were assassinated because
the Viet Cong were becoming too powerful (Cantu, D.A & S., 2003).
Before the Hmong agreed to join hands with the CIA, South Vietnam was no enemy to
them. Since they were with the CIA, whoever was the CIAs enemy was the Hmongs enemyby
association. The process of enemy making involves making enemies because they are labeled as
enemy. Sometimes enemies are made because you share the same goal; in this case it wasto

IN ORDER TO HAVE POWER, YOU DONT NEED TO MAKE ENEMIES

win the war, and so to reach your goal you end up making enemies. This relates back to the
quote, How can they fear what they dont know (Faces of the Enemy,1987). A war is a war;
once you know who youre fighting with, the other side is automatically the enemy.
At the end of the war in 1969, more than 110,000 Hmong became refugees in their own
country (Pfaff, 1995). The Americans lost eight CIA case officers, four in aircraft, and four killed
by enemy (Leary, 1995). Ngo Dinh Diem, Ngo Dinh Nhu, and President Kennedy were
assassinated by the Viet Cong (Cantu, D.A & S., 2003). This whole war started because South
Vietnams Prime Minister was not a Buddhist but Catholic and then Viet Cong was became too
powerful (Cantu, D.A & S., 2003). Wars are very ugly because in the end problems do not get
solved.
Before you get involved in a war, you must know the facts and the reasons behind how
the war got started. Using the example of Bessie the cow, the higher the step, the broader the
idea is. Bessie is no longer Bessie but now wealth because we identify her as wealth and not
Bessie, similar to enemy making and the Secret War. Bessie for the Hmong people is having a
land to call their own, but without realizing the highest of the step of the ladder is now to win
this war with the Americans.
This topic is very personal to me because its a part of me and its why I am here today in
the United States. I grew up in Sheboygan, a small city, where I often got questioned if I was
Chinese, what Hmong meant, why I didnt go back to my country and why am was here in the
United States.It wasnt until high school when I learned from a little section in history class
about how Hmong contributed in the Vietnam War. Later on that day I asked my parents about

IN ORDER TO HAVE POWER, YOU DONT NEED TO MAKE ENEMIES

the Secret War. I found out that my grandfatherswere generals who worked side-by-side with
General Vang Pao and both my parents family traveled through the forest, along the borders of
Laos into Thailand to keep their families safe before the Secret War started.
I learned a lot from writing this paper by connecting the abstraction process, enemy
making, intolerance, and the Secret War. I never questioned how the Vietnam War started. To
think that it started because the South Vietnam did not like their president because he was not
a Buddhist makes no sense. Power was also one of the factors that was a part in both the Secret
and Vietnam Wars. Americans did not want Vietnam to be too powerful and Hmong got
involved because they wanted a country of their own.
An example in which I show analysis is comparing the abstraction ladder diagram of
Bessie to the process of enemy making. I accurately discussedand related Bessies example
before Bessie become wealth: Bessie was cow, livestock, farm assets, and asset. Similar to
making an enemy, before someone becomes an enemy they are a stranger, then an
acquaintance, and then a friend.
Hmong were not the only people who got involved in the Secret War; Vietnamese, Thai
and Lao were also involved. A quote that goes well with the involvement of all the participants
in the war is, How is it that innocent become enemies? (Faces of the Enemy, 1987) My answer
to the quotes question is that because you make someones enemy yours that is why you
become enemies.
A problem solving example is at the end when I provided a clear background of how the
Vietnam War started and why the Hmong people got involved. Hmong got involved with a war

IN ORDER TO HAVE POWER, YOU DONT NEED TO MAKE ENEMIES

because the CIA made a proposal to them: if they join hands and win the war together, Hmong
will get a country of their own and the CIA will have people who know the area near the enemy
line. The Vietnamese wanted to win the war so they would be able to control their country. All
participants did not think of the consequences of their people dying as they tried to get closer
to their goal. Each of them were just thinking about being at the top of the ladder, winning the
war.
In conclusion, I didnt write my paper to bash anyone.I chose to write about the Secret
War because I wanted to know how it got started. The resultthat I found after my research was
quite interestingit was all about power. I knew that Hmong were involved because of the
proposal of the power to have their own country.Vietnam also valued the religion of their
president and they did not want someone who was not a Buddhist. They formed the Viet Cong,
overthrew him and killed anyone who was in their way to having power. Americans were afraid
that the Viet Cong might become too powerful so they decided ask for help from Hmong, Thai
and Lao people. Remember in order to have power; you do not need to make enemies.

IN ORDER TO HAVE POWER, YOU DONT NEED TO MAKE ENEMIES

References
Cantu, D. A. & Cantu, S. (2003) The vietnam war: a national dilemma. CA: Organization of
American Historians and The Regents, University of California.
Hayakawa, S. I. (1990) Language in thought and action. Boston, MA: Wadsworth 25 Thomson
Place
Jersey, B. (Producer) and (Director). (1987)Faces of the enemy. [Documentary] United States:
PBS
Documentary.
Leary, W. M. (1995) The CIA and the Secret War in Laos: The Battle for Skyline Ridge. Society
for Military History. 505-517. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2944620
Pfaff, T. (1995). Hmong in america journey from a secret war.Eau Claire, WI: Chippewa Valley
Museum Press