The Old Tribal War, Again

Watching a favorite film, The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), I realized the truth of what René Girard has said about the post 9/11 world: "What Is Occurring Today Is a Mimetic Rivalry on a Planetary Scale."

Samuel, a native African workman played by John Kani in the film, summarizes what happened to the famous hunter, Charles Remington played by Michael Douglas: his nation "suffered a war between two great tribes, and his tribe lost." This is how Samuel, a member of a traditional society, sees what those in the United States of America call the Civil War ... or the War of Northern Aggression. Neither side would typify it as a "war between two great tribes," but would hasten to nuance it with many aspects, subcategories, and subheadings. Nevertheless, from the perspective of mimetic theory, Samuel would be right in his assessment.

In the same way, our world today is in the early stages of a new outbreak of a very old mimetic rivalry between two "great tribes" "on a planetary scale," as Girard says. If one were wise, one would view what is happening in terms of what is variously called "radical Islamism," "terrorism", "jihad", "islamofascism" as members of one tribe wanting to re-establish a model/rival doubling crisis with the Christian faith -- a poor substitute for ontological substantiation, a parody of true covenantal transcendence. The ignoring of the truth of this phenomenon is, in my opinion, actually not a bad thing. It is a form of what is best about the West: an attempt not to get snookered into a doubling rivalry by leaning on what little is left of the influence of the Gospel in it.

Nonetheless, thoughtful writers and thinkers like Gil Bailie have stated their alarm at the baiting taking place, fearful of what may happen when the denizens of the West may finally turn and violently confront those seeking to provoke them into the "war between two great tribes" that a growing number of Islamists truly seek.

Till that time, it would indeed be wise to practice the "innocence of doves and wisdom of serpents" that Our Lord admonishes [Mtt 10,16]. For the myth of righteous violence is growing. Legitimate defense and chivalry are behaviors to get down off the mantle, and polish up. Mark my words, even with a heavy heart at their necessity.