Ok, another sleepless night, and my mind went a wandering. Sorry.
We as a nation have long been fearful of attack. The Spanish with their Armarda. Napolean's might made us build Martello towers all along the coast, to fend off the French. Then we had the Germans for the first half of the twentieth century, only to be replaced by the Russians in the latter half.
The end of the Cold War seemed to be the start of a new era in world peace, but then we entered into a war with 'terror'. These few Muslim extremists have brought about an increase in fear from the majority of people in the West. Racism is on the rise, not just against Muslims, but according to the press Jews and Christians as well.
Do the governments of the world encourage our fear, as it makes us easier to govern if we have a percieved enemy at the door?
On a much smaller scale you could take football hooliganism as another example of man's need for an enemy. Rovers hates Burnley, and both will fight each other, unless it's an international when they will join forces to pit battle against say the Germans. Perhaps it's a good job we don't have inter-continental matches, as we'd then have the Brits fighting with the Krauts to whip the Dagos of South America.
I've never held much credence with conspiracy theories but we do seem to need a percieved foe, and perhaps the governments of the world like this fact, as it means we don't look to closely at them.