Post by ricarey38 on Nov 16, 2011 22:59:46 GMT -5
A tyrannical consensus is a group that is created around potentially poisonous ideologies because of a crisis. However, to truly be tyrannical they must have power over those on those inside and be detrimental to the outsiders. They remain as relevant today as they were during the time of The Crucible. While the crises they are based on may have changed from movement away from the sacred in 1692 to the woes of a platoon in Afghanistan, the purpose and structure of a tyrannical consensus remain identical. The “Kill Team”, a group of American soldiers who murdered civilians in Afghanistan, perfectly demonstrated the same formula for creating and maintaining a tyrannical consensus that is presented in the Crucible, and both accomplished similar things.
The tyrannical consensus of the 3rd Platoon based in Afghanistan borrowed heavily from the process of creating a similar tyrannical consensus that existed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. First, there has to be a crisis that threatens to destroy the group, along with a fabricated crisis that is more tangible. In the case of the Kill Team, they were bored, morale was low, and they, “couldn't tell the difference between local nationals and combatants”1. Then a new soldier named Gibbs came along with a gung-ho attitude and a craving for power. He took the soldiers’ desire for combat and turned those urges against innocent civilians whom he portrayed as the enemy. Gibbs harnessed the non-tangible feelings they had and directed them towards innocent Afghans.
These events parallel The Crucible, in which the crisis of the movement from sacred to secular is turned into fear and elimination of anyone accused of witchcraft. Similarly to Gibbs, Abigail goes from being an outcast in the society to one of the most important members through deception and ruthlessness. Abigail harnessed fear through her accusations. Gibbs frequently threatened soldiers by showing them the fingers he had cut off of the bodies, which gave him a notorious reputation. Both the Kill Team lead by Gibbs and the Puritans lead by Abigail followed a specific outline in their creation and maintenance of a tyrannical consensus.
Tyrannical consensuses serve a purpose to the society that they affect and to the people who create them. In both The Crucible and the 3rd Platoon in Afghanistan, unity was dissolving. Gibbs reconstructed the unity around a skewed way of thinking and abhorrent acts, and Abigail bonded the Puritans together through the common goal of eliminating all witches. Neither did this for good, instead they both benefited from the newly formed tyrannical consensus because they had become important. Gibbs’ and Abigail’s actions temporarily alleviated all of the negative things that had been plaguing those who ended up inside of the consensus. In Afghanistan, the soldiers experienced a bond that was far more powerful than usual. Any soldier could have ruined the consensus, so they were forced to trust each other with the platoon’s secrets. Abigail helped many of the Puritans to believe that Puritanism was still strong and that the society was not moving away from it. Both consensuses served significant purposes and helped to postpone crises.
The tyrannical consensus of both the Kill Team and the Salem Witch Trials follow a similar pattern and accomplished the same general goal of bonding between the insiders and separating from the outsiders. Tyrannical consensuses are seemingly timeless, and they can start whenever there is enough of a perceived crisis to take advantage of. The patterns and purposes that they follow are always similar, so much so that the whole concept appears to be ingrained in and natural to humans.
598
1www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-kill-team-20110327
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15687522
The tyrannical consensus of the 3rd Platoon based in Afghanistan borrowed heavily from the process of creating a similar tyrannical consensus that existed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. First, there has to be a crisis that threatens to destroy the group, along with a fabricated crisis that is more tangible. In the case of the Kill Team, they were bored, morale was low, and they, “couldn't tell the difference between local nationals and combatants”1. Then a new soldier named Gibbs came along with a gung-ho attitude and a craving for power. He took the soldiers’ desire for combat and turned those urges against innocent civilians whom he portrayed as the enemy. Gibbs harnessed the non-tangible feelings they had and directed them towards innocent Afghans.
These events parallel The Crucible, in which the crisis of the movement from sacred to secular is turned into fear and elimination of anyone accused of witchcraft. Similarly to Gibbs, Abigail goes from being an outcast in the society to one of the most important members through deception and ruthlessness. Abigail harnessed fear through her accusations. Gibbs frequently threatened soldiers by showing them the fingers he had cut off of the bodies, which gave him a notorious reputation. Both the Kill Team lead by Gibbs and the Puritans lead by Abigail followed a specific outline in their creation and maintenance of a tyrannical consensus.
Tyrannical consensuses serve a purpose to the society that they affect and to the people who create them. In both The Crucible and the 3rd Platoon in Afghanistan, unity was dissolving. Gibbs reconstructed the unity around a skewed way of thinking and abhorrent acts, and Abigail bonded the Puritans together through the common goal of eliminating all witches. Neither did this for good, instead they both benefited from the newly formed tyrannical consensus because they had become important. Gibbs’ and Abigail’s actions temporarily alleviated all of the negative things that had been plaguing those who ended up inside of the consensus. In Afghanistan, the soldiers experienced a bond that was far more powerful than usual. Any soldier could have ruined the consensus, so they were forced to trust each other with the platoon’s secrets. Abigail helped many of the Puritans to believe that Puritanism was still strong and that the society was not moving away from it. Both consensuses served significant purposes and helped to postpone crises.
The tyrannical consensus of both the Kill Team and the Salem Witch Trials follow a similar pattern and accomplished the same general goal of bonding between the insiders and separating from the outsiders. Tyrannical consensuses are seemingly timeless, and they can start whenever there is enough of a perceived crisis to take advantage of. The patterns and purposes that they follow are always similar, so much so that the whole concept appears to be ingrained in and natural to humans.
598
1www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-kill-team-20110327
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15687522