Dinner With The Opposition

I had dinner with a group of friends last night and after generous doses of Cabernet for all of us, we fell to (apt expression!) talking politics. My opponents were of the opinion--and weren't shy about expressing it--that the only solution to our troubles is to get "them" before "they" get us. After all, "they" ran planes into the World Trade Center towers and killed Americans, didn't they?
No, "they" didn't, that was somebody else, but in this discussion--hey wait, that needs quote marks, too--"discussion," the point was moot. They're all "them," from those hot countries and their sole aim in life is not to get enough to eat, not to protect their children, not to live morally under their understanding of God--but to kill Americans. Why? Because they hate us for our freedoms, because they want to convert us to their religion, because they want to capture our oil reserves, because they're just cockamamie nut cases--who the hell knows?
The point here is that all my companions' anger, all their resentment, all their fears are directed toward people in other countries, the barely human, or certainly not as human as we Americans. "They" trashed the economy and took prayer out of schools, along with the dark hordes of illegal immigrants (and with the connivance of the gays and liberals), not the politicians and bankers. How do we know? Why, the media tells us, easily convincing the populace that all their troubles are caused by "them."
It's so quick and easy to cite Nazi Germany as an example--remarkably, both sides sometimes do, although they're arguing from entirely different premises. Often, the allusion is 'way off the mark, but here's one that isn't. It's Noam Chomsky, a calm, reasoned voice who alludes to that topic to great effect. I wish my dinner companians would take a look at this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MHEuudJ-o0