Re: Demystification vs. Ignorance--Which would Girard choose? -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 09:23:16 02/16/08 Sat
Author: Hwaet!
Subject: Re: Demystification vs. Ignorance--Which would Girard choose?
In reply to: Erin Risch 's message, "Re: Demystification vs. Ignorance--Which would Girard choose?" on 06:36:19 02/16/08 Sat

More on the Hebrews when I finish reading, but for now I�ll say that even if you were to reject scapegoat theory�s requirement that the community be unconscious of its victim�s arbitrariness, and if you were to read the Old Testament without ever having heard of Girard, you would still find in the Hebrews a �barbaric tribe who chronically got caught up in their own petty struggles and sacrificed an animal so that they might feel better again.� They were not barbaric and petty all the time�but just about. Perhaps the word �barbaric� is confusing; we usually oppose �barbaric� to �civilized,� but we find �barbaric� behavior when Simeon and Levi force the Hivite city to be circumcised, and then ride in and kill them three days later. Or the book of Judges, or 1 Samuel through 2 Chronicles. For pettiness, there�s the Pentatuch. So they may have been civilized and chosen by God, but they were still capable of brutality and whining.

As for the Hebrews sacrificing animals so that they might feel better again: if the Kaingang kill a calf because think they�re obeying and honoring a god whom they think exists but who actually does not, then unbeknownst to them, they are just killing animals so they feel better. But if the Hebrews kill a calf because they are obeying and honoring a God whom does exist, and who told them to kill the calf, then they are obeying and honoring God--even if they are simultaneously, unconsciously sating their urge for violence. I don�t see the two as conflicting necessarily.

That said, Girard may object to the �God telling them to kill the calf� bit.

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Re: Demystification vs. Ignorance--Which would Girard choose? -- Erin Risch, 20:59:49 02/17/08 Sun