Okay, so I was wrong. Democracy ain’t the best thing at certain times in certain places. Sometimes an unruly, mixed population needs — even wants — some asshole to detain, torture and kill for the sake of stability.
Yes, believe it or not, some cultures actually want to be ruled with an iron fist. This actually makes absolute sense when you’re trying to juggle the needs and necessary “requirements” (can you say “Reasonable accommodation”?) of many tribes forced to live together in one area, often within an arbitrarily-created borderline.
I call it “gang.” Just: “gang.” What is religion? A gang in fancy dress. Some remote master figure who calls all the shots. You’re fucked if you fuck up (Hell) or, if you're good, you get the fifty virgins (Heaven.)
This can be broken down very easily. Human beings tend to assemble into groups. It’s natural. You live in Montreal, and you happen to be Armenian. You give the Montreal Armenia society a call. You go to a couple of tea gatherings, and all is well, unless you gather to curse the Turks.
And therein lies the problem: the treehouse mentality. “It’s mine and I built it and if you don’t join the club you can’t come in.” This is not to mention the toy mentality, writ large: “You have something that will make my life better and I want it.”
Which brings us back to gangs. According to my theory, we form gangs (you can also interpret this as “tribes” for the less aggressive) that encompass groups from three individuals (two can’t be a gang) to billions, in order to evolutionarily prevail.
Thus, Christianity is just a huge gang. Look: it has all the gang hallmarks; the rituals, the mumbo-jumbo that will keep you hooked and pay to support the blood-sucking entrepreneur/con men who used to be a bit more useful at marketing Oil of Snake. Let’s not put into the mix the rampant sexual abuse which is tolerated, even protected, in the Catholic branch of the gang. (Tribe mentality 101).
Compare it to the ‘hood dude who signs you up and requests that you prove your faith by going through some ongoing weird hazing process. This isn't much different from Confession, which is just a gang ritual meant to intimidate but be salacious at the same time. It's one of many hallmarks of the Catholic faith, among them being ceremoniously dressed for sexual favors as an Altar Boy, or any number of mechanisms to oppress the victims with threats (Hell) enticements (Heaven) and always, always the threat of the wrath of God. Threats, benificences; it’s always the Church’s MO.
The gang theory, at least in my thinking, can be illustrated by the extrapolation of tiny gangs (three dudes about to rob a convenience store) all the way up to the Pope, head of one of the largest gangs in the world, pontificating on abortion. But I digress.
There is a more understandable way of examining the concept of the “gang” being the least common denominator of humanity and also its greatest if we look at a mandlebrotian situation; one in which the part of the tiniest is just a mere enabler of endlessly growing repetitions of the initial module, the initial module in this case being the most compact form of the “tribe” or the “gang” — that non-divisible number being three.
Gangs, large or small, are a recurring aspect of humanity. I fear they will never disappear. The Star Trek fantasy will never take place. The benign ruler will prosper, but only in a society that tolerates him. Otherwise, you have to just oppress. Oppression is the weapon of the rulers of the people who can only operate by being oppressed. Saddam ruled with an iron fist, Uday just went nuts, Stalin went even more nuts, but some people still pine for the old days.
Go figure.
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