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Ishmael Wallace's avatar

You are right that "the [targeted]symbol typically represents the disavowed evil of the mob itself."

I think that often, there's another cause as well: our hatred of goodness.

A society coalesces around an image of goodness, a local god. In Thailand, where I live, the late King Bhumibol is like a god; in every Thai house, his portrait hangs as a reminder of basic goodness. To destroy Thailand, one would have to destroy King Bhumibol.

What disturbs me about destruction of local gods is that each local god is a mediator for the One High God. The Confederate "gods" are fallible men, but in them, some of the Divine radiance is reflected. Any man on a horse is at least a symbol of the domination of instinct by awareness.

A local god can hold our goodness until we are ready to take it (His Majesty, King Bhumibol did this in my case), but can also cause shame; in comparison to him, what am I?

I think this is another cause of the movement to tear down.

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Leigh Fetter's avatar

If you're not already familiar with the following blog (see link), there are a few excellent Girardian writers there, particularly Richard Cocks and Tom Bertonneau. Here is Cocks' latest, reviewing a new Oedipus edition featuring some gold-standard Girardians, including Mark Anspach and Walter Burkert:

https://orthosphere.wordpress.com/2021/06/20/the-oedipus-casebook-edited-by-mark-r-anspach/#more-26954

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