Girard’s contention is that this incipient hostility threatens to create a sort of Hobbesian world, a non-society, in which no cooperative or coordinated action, including effective government, can be established. This attracts the desire of others in a sort of exponential wave of wanting.īut widespread wanting of anything means, first, a shortage of that commodity, and consequently the mutual antagonism of all those who share the same desire.
One person wants what another has, just because the other has it. Mimetic desire, according to Girard, has a predictable trajectory that is familiar to advertising executives around the world. This he called ‘mimetic desire’ and Girard went on to explore the implications of this insight for the next half century. Girard argued that our individual desires are never the product of some inner longing but always rather of the imitation of others. But almost 20 years later, the French philosopher, Rene Girard, produced a theory which has a remarkable congruence with its theme and, I think, provides the best explanation of what Jackson was getting at in The Lottery. At the time, and since, it has been praised as insightful and criticised as obscure. Science Imitating Art Jackson’s story was published in 1948.
that's basically why we won world war 1 & 2 (technically the same war, but with a 20 year ceasefire).ĭo (USA) citizens have (millions of) other people's blood on their hands because of the actions/inactions of their government? (less) Are advertisers making blood money from slots on these programs?Īlso consider how we (& admittedly other global superpowers, like Russia & China) exploit other parts of the world, like an empire, via (cultural) hegemony & outright war, or supporting groups of war.Īlso USA is basically an arms dealer, so we stir up conflicts to sell weapons either to other countries or to our own. Like when we build ghettos in our country, like in Chicago (i live in a suburb of it btw), is the mayor as guilty for the murders as the people who fire the shots? Is the media, supported by the folks in power, as guilty for capitalizing on it, (since news broadcasts are actually entertainment, hence why we don't hear about activism & how we can treat/remedy the murderous lottery of Chiraq). (since the short story was from 1948, after The Holocaust & it was examining social coercions in small towns). I think the bigger question is of "collective guilt". (since the short story was from 1948, after The Holocaust & it was examinin …more Way to spoil it! lol. i think the bigger question is of "collective guilt".