ISIS and Mimesis: Why the Islamic State really isn't 'Savage' at all
Time and again, we see the horrors of religious extremism.
Even before Sept. 11, the maladies of radicalism have deliberately attacked
Western culture in an attempt to instill a new world paradigm. Lately, this
extremism has taken the face of the Islamic State. The mainstream media tries the best it can to
define this constant threat. They report on the atrocities of beheading and
rape. They provide as much information as possible and genuinely want to get a
handle on what this evil looks like in modern times. But the problem lays in
their designation of the word ‘Savage’. We constantly hear the word Savage by
anchors and correspondents when trying to describe the behavior and motivations
of the Islamic State. And that’s understandable. Their actions are unspeakably
cruel and more often than not debris from an era of the past.
But they’re not
Savage.
The Savage ideal comes with a set of assumptions that make
it a legitimate form of reality. Usually, there is a set of circulating
references that connect the Savage with more modernized value systems. Michael
Taussig touched upon this in his exploration of Colonial State and native
Indians of the Cauca River in 1931. He describes how the Indians would create
imitations of the Nation State’s Army and through mimesis have healing power
amongst their people. The fetish-like power increased their social status. In
addition, the Indians would ingest a medicine having hallucinogenic properties
thought to ensorcel and ultimately provide a supernatural healing. The healing
would come through a “painting” or vision through which the recipient was
granted the power to heal.
But the colonists also made use of the same method of
“painting” to evoke power as well. Although in their case, the vision cured
sorcery by other colonists. In addition, the colonial “painting” portrayed the
Indian as a devil; which is no surprise really. Given the context and agenda of
the colonists, it’s feasible that a “painting” of the native as something Other
would be within the realm of possibilities. The point to take away here is that
the mysterious power that the Indians used to gain supernatural entry was also
utilized by Colonists who feared they had a need for supernatural intervention
in their lives. As Taussig remarked, “If the Indian gains healing power by
virtue of the “painting” of the Nation State’s Golden Army, and the poor Colonist,
emergent from that State, gains healing power through the “painting” of the
Indian as Devil, then we must be sensitive to the crucial circulation of
imageric power between these sorts of selves and these sorts of anti-selves,
their ominous need for and their feeding off each other’s correspondence-
interlocking dream-images guiding the reproduction of social life no less than
the production of sacred powers.”[1]
The magic of the Savage way of thinking was given legitimacy and credence as a
proven and trusted avenue for curing methods. The network between the Indians
and Colonists a reciprocal checks and balances wherein both were established
entities and parts of a greater whole. The mechanisms of social life dependent
on these cogs in order to function.
It’s not hard to discern the implications of designating the
Savage title to ISIS. In the consented reality of a socio-cultural and at least
partly, symbiotic correspondence between the Indian and Colonial worldview, the
Savage or Primitive way of thinking is given ontological relevancy. It bursts
into Being by way of the society created in its wake. Do we really want to
bestow this same kind of legitimacy and supernatural agency to the ISIS
idolaters? And that’s just one example. Think for a moment on the array of
cultures through time that make use of this Savage line of thought.
In reality, ISIS is more reminiscent of Nazi behavior. Yet
they too hopelessly used mimetic qualities in an attempt to achieve world
domination. According to Horkheimer and Adorno, “The purpose of the Fascist
formula, the ritual discipline, the uniforms, and the whole apparatus, which is
at first irrational, is to allow mimetic behavior. The carefully thought out
symbols, the skulls and disguises, the barbaric drum beats, the monotonous
repetition of words and gestures, are simply the organized imitation of magic
practices, the mimesis of mimesis.” [2]
It’s common knowledge that Hitler and Goebbels attempted occult practices
during World War Two. Although the numinous ones ignored them, they absolutely
strived to imitate the magic of the Savage. And in their perversions of occult
interaction they ultimately sealed their own fate.
ISIS isn’t even that original. Their actions, in fact, are a
mimesis of mimesis of mimesis. As they imitate the behavior and worldview of
the Third Reich, who themselves were a festering perversion of the Savage
perspective, they illegitimize themselves even further. The Islamic State is a
mimetic caricature of a religio-politic entity and more idolater of Islam than
anything else. One thing they certainly are not is Savage. The mere idea of
gifting them the reciprocal interaction of deitic correspondence does a
terrible disservice to every cultural group that successfully integrates the
supernatural into their reality. The only thing we should be calling ISIS is
‘terrorist’ and preferably they should be referred to in the past tense. As in
a blight or toxic eyesore that we stomped out long ago.
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