Re: The Minority "Victim" -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 07:11:52 01/23/08 Wed
Author: Kiernan
Subject: Re: The Minority "Victim"
In reply to: Caitlin 's message, "The Minority "Victim"" on 20:11:25 01/21/08 Mon

It seems to me that this problem stems from something I noted before - the sheer arbitrariness of the victim. The victim is not necessarily an arbitrary victim because he is completely innocent and everyone else is wicked. He is an arbitrary victim because he is not any more wicked than anyone else, and thus is usually chosen for his position as victim based on something arbitrary - something that would not implicate the mob in a similar sin. For example, the mob might choose, as Dr. Jackson said, "the X with a tail." This choice is based upon the fact that none of the other X's have tails. But the X chosen as a victim may have participated in cycles of rivalry equal to those participated in by everyone else. If he were implicated as the disease based on those rivalries, then everyone else in the society would be implicated in something similar as well, thus revealing the mechanism. So instead he is implicated in something arbitrary and, in the end, immaterial to the society's sickness. Under this arbitrary system, anyone at any time could be the victim - there isn't a special class of victims to be defended.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]