Well, here’s my attempt at creating a “Girardian” image. René Girard constantly demonstrates how enemies have the tendency to imitate each other, although rather unwittingly. The more they resemble each other, the more they strive to differentiate themselves from each other, which tragically ends up in an even more undifferentiated monstrous cycle of mutual aversion and violence – a cycle of revenge…
CLICK THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE:
Enemies become “mimetic doubles”. Today’s fight over so-called “True Islam” as a religion that supposedly justifies violence is but one example of a mimetic (i.e. imitative) interdependence between “defenders” and “attackers”. I highly recommend René Girard’s Battling to the End in this regard (find an extensive review by clicking here).
A slightly different version of the same image:
One more:
well… but this kind of symmetric fight may end up in scapegoating… and unite themselves over their common enemy (e.g. Europe)…
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It’s remarkable that supposedly very “differing” parties tend to blame the EU for whatever goes wrong nowadays, indeed…
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