Aristotle's Warning

Lecturer Gil Bailie recently remarked that Aristotle gave a warning to the Tragedian playwrights. If they did not somehow "drain away" the emotions of the crowds that had been aroused by the viewing of their plays, all of Athens might go up in flames when these same crowds were turned loose upon the city.

This shows how much the great philosopher knew and understood about the (fallen) human heart and the power of what René Girard calls "the primitive sacred." He knew that whipping up a frenzy of accusatory feelings among a mob must either not happen at all, or it must vent itself upon a victim, a scapegoat, so as to bring about catharsis.

Do Hollywood movie producers know this? Perhaps. There is certainly ample bloodletting at the local temple of film ... er, cineplex. Do politicians know this? Perhaps. Although where would politics be without the accusatory gesture? ("It's all his/her/their fault.")

The West is still sufficiently "Christ-haunted" for the time being to keep the cities from going up in flames. But, as a wise man once said, no one wants a scapegoat as much as the crowd in a time of crises; and we have plenty at present.

Be that as it may, note well that while some accusatory gestures come from those giving sermons and homilies in Christian houses of worship, by in large the message is one that can be followed with a fair degree of accuracy back to Our Lord. Almost no one has dared claim that He wanted to smite His "enemies" - a howler by all who know only a smattering of the New Testament. No one worries about the Presbyterians or Methodists hitting the streets after 11 o'clock worship.

Why? Because at some level we know that Aristotle foreshadowed in his wisdom what Our Lord lived and taught and continues to live and teach by His Holy Spirit. It is the antithesis of the Gospel - again, Girard's "primitive sacred" - to simply go out and destroy one's enemies rather than forgive them and try to get along.

The antithesis is this, as a matter of fact:

"Jews are the enemy of Allah," declared Ismael Gharaballi during a service in a mosque in Bielefeld, Germany. "This is not only my belief, but also Allah's conviction," the Palestinian imam and Hamas activist declared, waving his Koran in the air. The congregation of about 200 thundered, "Allahu Akbar!"

The Scimitar imams who thrive on stoking the flames of the primitive sacred into a conflagration are plainly and simply mouthpieces not for a benevolent deity, but for the ancient gods of the blood. The same old same old of paganism. And that is and should be a concern not for interfaith goodie-two-shoes, but for any concerned for the continuation of the West.

Those who forget that the West gave us all we love most about civilization - freedom of speech, freedom of religion, even the grossly ignorant and forgetful "multiculturalism" that now oppresses Christian faith - forget that the Gospel of truth is what is in danger today.

Those who forget are like the birds of the air who make their nest in the Kingdom of God's mustard seed shrub and do not see those coming who would burn it to the ground.

To all men of good will, who see that Aristotle's warning is one that all people must heed, I say this: Do not listen to those who would seek evil upon other human beings. They are not of God, but of Satan and the dark gods who thirst for blood.