Mimetic Desire
"As a general rule, quiet and untroubled possession weakens desire. In giving my model a rival I return to him, in a way, the gift of the desire that he just gave to me. I give a model to my own model. The spectacle of my desire reinforces his at the precise moment when, in confronting me, he reinforces mine. That man whose wife I desire, for ( Read more... )
I agree with you on Girard, I think. My thoughts at the moment are that Girard's work is undoubtedly right, but incomplete. As a thought experiment, I consider Gene Robinson's effect on global Anglicanism. Many of the pieces seem, on the surface, to fit Girard's scapegoat mechanism--social pressures building between church liberals and conservatives, Robinson emerging as a focal point, conservatives acting upon him in an exclusionary way to preserve their social fabric, etc. But, I obviously don't think this is a correct explanation--for the reason that Girard presumes that in every instance of this mechanism, the victim is *innocent* of the mob's claims against him or her, whereas I consider Robinson to be genuinely guilty. But, this also reveals my conviction that orthodox, catholic Christianity is *not* violent against gays and women, and whatever else you like. Not violent generally.
So, this leads me to believe that Girard cannot account for a rogue individual or group actively attempting to disturb a peaceful, non-violent social fabric--an individual who is in fact morally blameworthy (and thus different from the Gospel case of the adulterous woman in that Robinson actively tries to overturn the Church). Or at least, Girard does not attempt to provide such an account.
It's good to hear from you, I hope your research is going well.
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