Mob Rules

The Passion Play:
"Cru-ci-fy him!"

It is the scene that makes the rabbis so uncomfortable. It's a powerful scene. It doesn't, however, convey a distorted image of the Jewish people. It portrays humans as individuals who are part of a crowd, a crowd that becomes frightening when it turns into an uncontrollable, manipulated mob.

Mobs crucify. That's what they do. The portrayal of a Jewish mob is not a distorted image, because Jews can be just as irrational as any other collective. My problem is when a story with a universal message is stripped of universal significance. "The Jews killed their saviour!" People do that. The Germans killed Walter Rathenau, their only hope after Versailles. The Russians killed Alexander II, the emancipator of the serfs. The Hindus killed Gandhi!

When we exile ourselves from the mob's dictates, we risk the cross. Upon further consideration the mob may declare us the messiah, and crucify the next exile who disagrees. History is the goddamn passion play.

Comments

  1. GKMay 20, 2010 at 11:40 AM

    But is it just the mob?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daMCJke4ak4#t=0m12s

    ReplyDelete

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