Checkov's Gun

What concerns me from a mimetic theory point of view about the accusations pointed at the Holy Father is strictly structural. The first stone, as Bailie points out, is the most important one. Once a stoning begins, the mimesis of the crowd is engaged and all are guilty - and none. It is as though the mimesis takes on a life of its own; this is Girard's "single victimary mechanism." And, it is vital to note, this is precisely why Our Lord did what He did to curtail the casting of the first stone at the woman (Jn 8,1f).

Also from a mimetic theory point of view, a precedent is important. We may call this Chekhov’s gun. "One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it," Chekhov wrote in a letter to Aleksandr Semenovich Lazarev. And we have already seen this gun in action last Christmas at Saint Peter's.

Some who should know better may say there is no conspiracy involved in the MSM's misstatements, shoddy research, and continuing to stir the pot, but this is not exactly true from a mimetic theory viewpoint. Yes, it is not a well-discussed, step-by-step plan of action, but its timing, doggedly determined efforts, and "righteousness" are tell-tale marks of scapegoating, structurally speaking.

As Bailie, again, says, just because the town rallies together against the horse-thief does not mean that the horse-thief is worthy of our saying stealing horses is "okay" because he is being victimized. But, neither is the town right in victimizing the horse-thief, even though he stole a horse. If they do so to re-convene themselves socially and psychologically, even if he is guilty of stealing the horse, he is structurally innocent.

There is enough illative evidence for me to believe the Holy Father is innocent. I fear that the self-righteous, victimizing MSM is not only colluding with the humanist progressivists' agenda to knock down further the sole source of epistemological, anthropological, and ontological knowledge - namely, the Catholic Church - but they may just want to see if Chekhov's gun can get fired this Easter Sunday ... in the Holy Father's direction.

And if - IF, God forbid - it happens ... well, hey, they were just "doing their job."

Right? Right?