Different by NOT being different -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 19:24:00 01/25/08 Fri
Author: Caitlin
Subject: Different by NOT being different

I was reading "The Scapegoat" and was highly confused by this quote found on page 21. "The signs that indicate a victim's selection result not from the difference within the system but from the difference outside the system, the potential for the system to differ from its own difference, in other words not to be different at all, to cease to exist as a system."

Does this mean that difference is the basis of the 'system' and that a victim is chosen because they are NOT different, or because they are TOO different? I thought that a victim was chosen because he or she were different from the rest of those in the 'system'. I reference Dr. Jackson's curly-tailed X example. Can anyone lend some more insight on this and/or explain what the quote is trying to convey?

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