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Girard makes some interesting points about mimetic behaviour.<br>
<br>
People can indeed be motivated by the lust of the flesh, the lust<br>
of the eyes, and the pride of life. <br>
" the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), <br>
and that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes)<br>
and a tree to be desired to make one wise (pride of life).<br>
<br>
Paul the Apostle said that it was covetousness that got him into<br>
trouble, and Girard's mimetic motivation seems to be in parallel.<br>
<br>
But I think that people can be motivated by love (in the best sense)<br>
and by an appreciation for goodness.<br>
<br>
*<br>
<br>
"Meme" is translated into Chinese as Ä£·Â²¡¶¾ mo fang bing du<br>
which means "virus of imitation".<br>
<br>
<br>
On 08/25/13 19:56, Karen Aram wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:BAY177-W262A430121A4D288FA9DE1A3480@phx.gbl"
type="cite">
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<div dir="ltr">Carl<br>
I think thats a great idea, as long as we keep it informal, not a
"requirement", or too structured, as the CP and SWP, with discussions
separate from our regular get togethers. <br>
Let's discuss at this afternoons meeting.<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>
<hr id="stopSpelling">Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Banality of Evil<br>
From: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:galliher@illinois.edu">galliher@illinois.edu</a><br>
Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 21:42:04 -0500<br>
CC: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:stuartnlevy@gmail.com">stuartnlevy@gmail.com</a>; <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a>;
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ewj@pigsqq.org">ewj@pigsqq.org</a><br>
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:karenaram@hotmail.com">karenaram@hotmail.com</a><br>
<br>
Girard is difficult but repays study, I think.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>If AWARE were into "internal education" in the old CP fashion,
I'd suggest a reading group on Arendt and Girard.</div>
<div><br>
<div>
<div>On Aug 24, 2013, at 9:02 PM, Karen Aram <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:karenaram@hotmail.com">karenaram@hotmail.com</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="ecxApple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote>
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<div dir="ltr">Wayne, I do agree with you in respect to individuals
being scapegoats, though I support justice and individuals taking
responsibility for their actions. Eichmann's trial and execution was
just that, a show to appease, allowing many collectively to escape
justice. Perhaps it brought solace to surviving victims, but I doubt it.<span
class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><br>
<br>
Carl, I have to reread your statements more than once to comprehend,
will comment at a later date. I enjoy the discussion/food for thought
from you both.<br>
<br>
<div>
<hr id="ecxstopSpelling">Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Banality of
Evil<br>
From:<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:galliher@illinois.edu">galliher@illinois.edu</a><br>
Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 20:27:17 -0500<br>
CC:<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:karenaram@hotmail.com">karenaram@hotmail.com</a>;<span
class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:stuartnlevy@gmail.com">stuartnlevy@gmail.com</a>;<span
class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a><br>
To:<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:ewj@pigsqq.org">ewj@pigsqq.org</a><br>
<br>
The scapegoat theme is worth pursuing. I keep running into (as in a
traffic accident) the work of Rene Girard. I think the cosmos is trying
to tell me something.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>"...The phrase 'scapegoat mechanism' was not coined by Girard
himself; it had been used earlier by Kenneth Burke in Permanence and
Change (1935) and A Grammar of Motives (1940). However, Girard took
this concept from Burke and developed it much more extensively as an
interpretation of human culture.<br>
<br>
"In Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World (1978), Girard
develops the implications of this discovery. The victimary process is
the missing link between the animal world and the human world, the
principle that explains the humanization of primates. It allows us to
understand the need for sacrificial victims, which in turn explains
the hunt which is primitively ritual, and the domestication of animals
as a fortuitous result of the acclimatization of a reserve of victims,
or agriculture. It shows that at the beginning of all culture is
archaic religion, which Durkheim had sensed[citation needed]. The
elaboration of the rites and taboos by proto-human or human
groups would take infinitely varied forms while obeying a rigorous
practical sense that we can detect: the prevention of the return of the
mimetic crisis. So we can find in archaic religion the origin of all
political or cultural institutions.<br>
<br>
"According to Girard, just as the theory of Natural selection of
species is the rational principle that explains the immense diversity
of forms of life, the victimization process is the rational principle
that explains the origin of the infinite diversity of cultural forms.
The analogy with Darwin also extends to the scientific status of the
theory, as each of these presents itself as a hypothesis that is not
capable of being proven experimentally, given the extreme amounts of
time necessary to the production of the phenomena in question, but
which imposes itself by its great explanatory power."</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
<div>
<div>On Aug 24, 2013, at 8:15 PM, "E. Wayne Johnson ÖìÎÈÉ" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:ewj@pigsqq.org">ewj@pigsqq.org</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="ecxApple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote>On 08/25/13 6:30, Karen Aram wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:BAY177-W124C555C2FCBEC194C256CA34F0@phx.gbl">
<div dir="ltr">In reference to some of our discussions at the
Market this morning related to the film and writings of Hannah Arendt,
and her "banality of evil" I attach the below. I consider not Adolph
Eichmann, but many here in the US, myself included, as the banality of
evil, when viewing through the eyes of many elsewhere in the world. We
drive our SUV's, feed our pets better food than some people receive,
shop until we drop, consuming resources that cannot be replaced,
and allowing wars and killings to take place in the name of "self
defense".<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
I would agree that after you have made certain that the last human<br>
is ok, then you take care of the first dog, but my attitude is angering<br>
to some.<br>
<br>
I consider Eichmann to be a scapegoat, much like Bin Laden and Michael
Vick.<br>
<br>
Having said that humans are so much more valuable that dogs<span
class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><br>
[worst human >> best dog], now I must say that there is great<br>
evil possible in the action of masses of human. Alone an<span
class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><br>
individual can do relatively little evil.<br>
<br>
Scapegoats provide the hoi polloi a focus upon which to fix the
pointless banality of their<br>
useless lives of vanity. <span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br class="ecxApple-interchange-newline">
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
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