Eric, I know you have something against this guy. I hate to tell you, though, that family systems theory does exactly what he's suggesting. Dysfunctional families will unconsciously assign roles to different family members. For example, scapegoat, hero, forgotten child and so on. Marlena often talks about the victim role. I can't tell you who the originator is. Eric Berne possibly. I just googled Berne. I think it is him but there may be others. A quick quote from him: "Eric Berne proposed that dysfunctional behavior is the result of self-limiting decisions made in childhood in the interest of survival. Such decisions culminate in what Berne called the "life script," the pre-conscious life plan that governs the way life is lived out." http://www.itaa-net.org/ta/keyideas.htm I had suggested that Terri Schiavo was the rallying point for her mother and father, who, instead of facing the problems in their relationship, focused on her. It's well known that children will take on the sick child role so that parents don't separate, essentially they sacrifice themselves for their own survival, with, of course, the family's unconscious consent. It may even be why Terri developed the eating disorder in the first place, i.e., it may have been her job in the family to be the problem child, but that is pure speculation on my part. Speculation aside, I don't think it's extremely far fetched to think that a variation on this is going on in a global sense. The alternative is to say we are just animals, which in fact we are, and our violence is as symbolic as that of any primate. I like to think our big brain adds a dimension, but maybe it doesn't. Any suggestions as to why the soldier is historically so attractive? Andy Amago > [Original Message] > From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Date: 8/10/2005 5:57:06 PM > Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: The Soldier as Sacrificial Victim > > "Hypocrisy lies at the heart of the institution of warfare." > > > Hypocrisy also lies at the heart of spamming every conceivable > mailing list with this "psychological interpretation of warfare" > cottage industry marketing. These guys even spam lists that are > technically defunct, such as the old phil-lit-crit or nietzsche > lists on jeffersonvillage. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, > digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html