Waiting for the Barbarians

by J.M. Coetzee

hysteria about the barbarians. There is no woman living along the frontier who has not dreamed of a dark barbarian hand coming from under the bed to grip her ankle, no man who has not frightened himself with visions of the barbarians carousing in his home, breaking the plates, setting fire to the curtains, raping his daughters. These dreams are the consequence of too much ease.

All too easy to stoke fear of "the other" to gain and consolidate power.