Identity, Politics, and the Blame Game
Our regard for identity labels seems a curious patchwork of dissonant notions. To what degree might we blame ideas for what people do with them?
To wit, when disaffected Chechen immigrants bomb the Boston Marathon, the question of blaming Islam itself moves front and center. And while there are certainly anti-religious people who will, rightly or wrongly, blame Christianity for every half-witted deviation from a philosophical outlook that neither the half-wit nor the boilerplate critic understands, rarely do such questions possess the public discourse.
Perhaps a degree of illustration suffices:
Really, that should suffice; the detail of Megan Carpentier's short article for Raw Story is beyond horrifying. For the sake of your sanity, do consider skipping the article entirely—that colloquial expression, "A little part of me just died", might well apply.
What role does religious faith play in this atrocious episode? Quite obviously, it is a significant role, but here's the thing: We might denounce Gaete as a psycho, a devil, or whatever. We might call his cult murderously and dangerously paranoid.
But can you blame Christianity?
Can you blame Jesus and Peter, and the popes and preachers who have tread in the Savior's wake?
While there are plenty of religious people in our Sciforums community I would not want within a mile of my daughter, I can't say that immolation of a living child believed to be the antichrist is anywhere on the list. Indeed, even the misogyny, addiction to superstition, and sublimated hatred derived from greed that I might accuse of modern Christianity has its own context in consideration of the psychoanalytic meaning of history, the dialectic of neurosis.
Few are the truly evil people; most, even including someone as utterly diseased as a cult leader who would murder an infant in pursuit of Heavenly triumph, have simply sublimated their destructive impulses in order to justify their desire to kill.
I would suggest that it is not as accurate to blame a widespread, diversely articulated idea, such as Christianity. The answer to why this, and many other human atrocities, might occur within such proximity to the identity label is entirely invested within the individual.
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Notes:
Carpentier, Megan. "Police seek fugitive cult leader after his group burns an infant alive as the 'Antichrist'". The Raw Story. April 26, 2013. RawStory.com. April 26, 2013. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/...roup-burns-an-infant-alive-as-the-antichrist/
Our regard for identity labels seems a curious patchwork of dissonant notions. To what degree might we blame ideas for what people do with them?
To wit, when disaffected Chechen immigrants bomb the Boston Marathon, the question of blaming Islam itself moves front and center. And while there are certainly anti-religious people who will, rightly or wrongly, blame Christianity for every half-witted deviation from a philosophical outlook that neither the half-wit nor the boilerplate critic understands, rarely do such questions possess the public discourse.
Perhaps a degree of illustration suffices:
Ramón Gustavo Castillo Gaete, who refers to himself as “Antares from the Light,” is on the run from police after four members of his group were arrested by Chilean authorities for the ritualistic murder of an infant girl.
Really, that should suffice; the detail of Megan Carpentier's short article for Raw Story is beyond horrifying. For the sake of your sanity, do consider skipping the article entirely—that colloquial expression, "A little part of me just died", might well apply.
What role does religious faith play in this atrocious episode? Quite obviously, it is a significant role, but here's the thing: We might denounce Gaete as a psycho, a devil, or whatever. We might call his cult murderously and dangerously paranoid.
But can you blame Christianity?
Can you blame Jesus and Peter, and the popes and preachers who have tread in the Savior's wake?
While there are plenty of religious people in our Sciforums community I would not want within a mile of my daughter, I can't say that immolation of a living child believed to be the antichrist is anywhere on the list. Indeed, even the misogyny, addiction to superstition, and sublimated hatred derived from greed that I might accuse of modern Christianity has its own context in consideration of the psychoanalytic meaning of history, the dialectic of neurosis.
Few are the truly evil people; most, even including someone as utterly diseased as a cult leader who would murder an infant in pursuit of Heavenly triumph, have simply sublimated their destructive impulses in order to justify their desire to kill.
I would suggest that it is not as accurate to blame a widespread, diversely articulated idea, such as Christianity. The answer to why this, and many other human atrocities, might occur within such proximity to the identity label is entirely invested within the individual.
____________________
Notes:
Carpentier, Megan. "Police seek fugitive cult leader after his group burns an infant alive as the 'Antichrist'". The Raw Story. April 26, 2013. RawStory.com. April 26, 2013. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/...roup-burns-an-infant-alive-as-the-antichrist/