[Peace-discuss] Banality of Evil
"E. Wayne Johnson 朱稳森"
ewj at pigsqq.org
Sun Aug 25 15:15:37 UTC 2013
Girard makes some interesting points about mimetic behaviour.
People can indeed be motivated by the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life.
" the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh),
and that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes)
and a tree to be desired to make one wise (pride of life).
Paul the Apostle said that it was covetousness that got him into
trouble, and Girard's mimetic motivation seems to be in parallel.
But I think that people can be motivated by love (in the best sense)
and by an appreciation for goodness.
*
"Meme" is translated into Chinese as 模仿病毒 mo fang bing du
which means "virus of imitation".
On 08/25/13 19:56, Karen Aram wrote:
> Carl
> 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.
> Let's discuss at this afternoons meeting.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Banality of Evil
> From: galliher at illinois.edu
> Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 21:42:04 -0500
> CC: stuartnlevy at gmail.com; peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net;
> ewj at pigsqq.org
> To: karenaram at hotmail.com
>
> Girard is difficult but repays study, I think.
>
> If AWARE were into "internal education" in the old CP fashion, I'd
> suggest a reading group on Arendt and Girard.
>
> On Aug 24, 2013, at 9:02 PM, Karen Aram <karenaram at hotmail.com
> <mailto:karenaram at hotmail.com>> wrote:
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Banality of Evil
> From: galliher at illinois.edu <mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>
> Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 20:27:17 -0500
> CC: karenaram at hotmail.com <mailto:karenaram at hotmail.com>;
> stuartnlevy at gmail.com <mailto:stuartnlevy at gmail.com>;
> peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> <mailto:peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
> To: ewj at pigsqq.org <mailto:ewj at pigsqq.org>
>
> 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.
>
> "...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.
>
> "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.
>
> "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."
>
>
> On Aug 24, 2013, at 8:15 PM, "E. Wayne Johnson 朱稳森"
> <ewj at pigsqq.org <mailto:ewj at pigsqq.org>> wrote:
>
> On 08/25/13 6:30, Karen Aram wrote:
>
> 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".
>
>
> I would agree that after you have made certain that the last human
> is ok, then you take care of the first dog, but my attitude is
> angering
> to some.
>
> I consider Eichmann to be a scapegoat, much like Bin Laden and
> Michael Vick.
>
> Having said that humans are so much more valuable that dogs
> [worst human >> best dog], now I must say that there is great
> evil possible in the action of masses of human. Alone an
> individual can do relatively little evil.
>
> Scapegoats provide the hoi polloi a focus upon which to fix
> the pointless banality of their
> useless lives of vanity.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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