Heretics Must Be Removed

Enemies of political movements can be internal or external. In many ways, internal enemies are the most dangerous. Outsiders, or those who are clearly in the political out-group, are easily recognized as a threat. Furthermore, outsiders cannot project an image of the political in-group to the larger society. Political out-group members can make claims about the political in-group, but they have a clear interest in negatively framing their own out-group. Anything they state about the group will be naturally weighed against their potential desire to penalize out-group members. However, internal enemies may not be recognized as a threat to the group's goals until it is too late. Such individuals have a more powerful ability to frame the image of the group, as they are seen as members or beneficiaries of that political movement. It is perhaps for this reason that a great deal of attention is often devoted to ensuring that members in a political movement are sufficiently loyal to the movement's core tenets.