Girard Digest 16: The Mimetic Scapegoat
Mar. 26th, 2019 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinThis is another small semi-diversion from Girard's thinking, but one which I feel is important to explore a little, in light of mental health, especially trends in young people.
If we imitate each other's desires, and also imitate each other's animosities, then it stands to reason that if someone's animosity is directed at us, we might imitate their hatred and turn it into self-hatred.
Someone with a robust ego would see hatred directed at them and rebuff it with defiance, or perhaps mirror the animosity and enter a rivalry with the person victimizing them. But if you do not have such a firm belief in the rightness of your self, or if you've been conditioned not to project or transfer animosity onto another relationship, you will adopt the animosity of your accuser, their desire to see you brought low, and turn that against yourself. What is depression, self-harm, or suicide, but the imitation and enaction of others' violence towards you?
I'd really like to know where Quasi got enough confidence to sing that whole optimistic song. Gosh.
Chapter 17: The Mimetic Crisis
If we imitate each other's desires, and also imitate each other's animosities, then it stands to reason that if someone's animosity is directed at us, we might imitate their hatred and turn it into self-hatred.
Someone with a robust ego would see hatred directed at them and rebuff it with defiance, or perhaps mirror the animosity and enter a rivalry with the person victimizing them. But if you do not have such a firm belief in the rightness of your self, or if you've been conditioned not to project or transfer animosity onto another relationship, you will adopt the animosity of your accuser, their desire to see you brought low, and turn that against yourself. What is depression, self-harm, or suicide, but the imitation and enaction of others' violence towards you?
I'd really like to know where Quasi got enough confidence to sing that whole optimistic song. Gosh.
Chapter 17: The Mimetic Crisis
