Lecture IV: The Scapegoat Mechanism | René Girard's Mimetic Theory
Johnathan Bi
The History of Reciprocal Violence
In the Trojan War, Greek generals Agamemnon and Hardisius go home to find violence plaguing their own homes in their absence. One single localized act of violence spreading exponentially can develop an entire continent and flames. Reciprocal violence then is like a contagion. It slowly starts to spread and envelopes everybody nearby. Vengeance then is an interminable, infinitely repetitive process. Every time it turns up in some part of the community, it threatens to involve the whole of social body. There's the risk that the active vengeance will initiate a chain reaction whose consequences will quickly prove fatal to any society of modest size.
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