One of the most important parts of status as the mechanism of all societies, is the scapegoating mechanism…
One of the most important parts of status as the mechanism of all societies, is the scapegoating mechanism that Rene Girard talks about.
The relentless battles for status - status games or team sports - lead to chaos. We’re seeing that right now. How do societies survive? /1 https://t.co/eVAUJDoVGu
Whenever a group reaches a certain intensity of rivalry for status, the status game ‘tightens up’, as Will Storr says.
Meaning the status hierarchy is replaced by an angry crowd or mob. Elias Canetti won his Nobel Prize analysing this form of social life. /2 https://t.co/HqgKhnhms6
The crowd or mob is now no longer following a hierarchy, but rather discharges the pent up anger and frustration at the chaos of their lives, created by status games.
To discharge that anger, it finds a scapegoat. /3
A sacrifice, to release the crowd anger. Because social media dramatically accelerates social mechanisms, you can see this happening every single day.
‘De-platforming’, ‘cancellation’. Swarms of crusading zealots, seeking total reputational death for the chosen victim. /4
Storr brilliantly points out that these crusading swarms are mostly made of people who are themselves socially marginalised.
This is their revenge, their solidarity, turning the exclusion usually focused on them back upon the unbeliever. /5
Girard’s belief was that Christianity’s genius was the direct targeting of this scapegoating mechanism.
By crucifying Christ, who defused scapegoating to take all of the anger and sin of the world upon himself. /6 https://t.co/v4MuFbUng3
Our education is too narrow and shallow now to see the role Christianity played in the West in particular, in actually building our societies.
By first creating a stabilised status hierarchy, through the church, to control status games throughout society. /7
And then to defuse the scapegoating mechanism, these lethal swarming destructions of death.
Our views of religion are still bogged down in a more recent status game, The Enlightenment. Which can only see religion as a rival for science. /8
Go beyond that and I think the function of religion has always been to control violence in societies. By targeting status games in all of their dimensions.
By placing the arbiter of status disputes outside the collective. Transcendent gods do this in many cultures. /9
Until we recognise that societies run on status, we’ll be trapped inside multiple bubbles or teams every day, fighting other teams, thinking that’s important somehow.
Fighting for our actual identity, which is what status is all about. /10
Joining the mob-swarm, to cancel the unbelievers. Just look at the vitriol on these platforms every day, sociality is violence. We fight in teams, and then we ‘tighten up’ and swarm, to ‘cancel’ the unbelievers.
/end