Enemy of the people

The phrase “enemy of the people” has an interesting history. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its first occurrence in English was in a translation of Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play, An Enemy of the People. In the play, there is some irony attached to the phrase in that it is used to denounce the hero, a doctor who has discovered that his town’s water supply is contaminated, threatening the town’s main business, baths. So originally it referred to someone who was presenting facts that were unwelcome to the powerful. That has not prevented its un-ironic use by tyrants and wouldbe tyrants, and it was commonly used in communist countries to attack anyone who challenged the rulers.

Our current president’s use of the phrase to disparage the news media is right in line with this tradition.

Indeed, his behavior toward reporters and other members of the media, and his new practice of canceling the security clearances of his critics, calls to mind another phrase from the same tradition: “Why should a government which is doing what it believes to be right allow itself to be criticized?” This is reported to be part of a speech delivered in 1920 by V.I. Lenin.

It appears that our president’s affinity for Vladimir Putin is not merely personal, but based on a sympathy for the philosophy of government that Putin and his predecessors have adhered to.

BARRY D. GEHM

Batesville