Saturday, November 24, 2007

The Evil Eye, A Hunchback, & Trousers?

Two points: (a) When the sacrificial crisis nearly reaches its denouement, one should avoid sticking out like a sore thumb. In Euripides' THE BACCHAE, King Pentheus of Thebes is conveniently pointed out to the riotous Bacchanal by the god Dionysus. He is torn limb from limb. René Girard's cultural analysis, mimetic theory, has given ample evidence that it takes minimal differentiation to demarcate a victim for the ravenous mob: a deformity, a certain set apartness, if you will.

Well, here you go: a couple, an uncle and aunt, mind you, of the perpetrators were beheaded because the dear old uncle wore western-style trousers. Pants = infidel = beheading. Get it?

Point (b): I wish that such a well-informed proponent of western values as Michelle Malkin knew something about René Girard. Sigh.

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