beachblinkette
02-15-2008, 08:26 PM
Who will be the next scapegoat to be killed on the island? Individuals that threaten the established structure of a functioning community are marginal persons. Rene Girard, a Stanford prof, has a theory about communities needing some marginal individual to be sacrificed so the tensions of so many people wanting the same thing(mimetic rivalry) can be eased for a awhile. Following the ritual sacrifice. a great calm descends upon the community. Peace harmony, and order are restored. The miraculous lack of violence is credited to the sacrifice.Eventually the cycle of violence begins again. His theory explains that every culture has this mechanism throughout human history. It is what allows cultures to continue to exist otherwise the tensions would destroy the group. There is a lot of tension on Lost right now. It is necessary that the person be carefully chosen and just who the marginal individual will be is anybody's guess.After the sacrifice, things die down and the dead person is given almost a holy status-like a saint.These unprotected victims usually have few rights or are the uninitiated such as infants, children, adolescents, the physically challenged, prisoners, aliens, slaves, and the unmarried. It's deep, but is it Lost?