What is the biggest threat to human community?
The Raven Foundation is aligned with René Girard in believing that escalating violence due to mimetic rivalry is the biggest threat to human community. As humans are highly social creatures and influence one another in profound ways, we can influence one another to become more violent. Psychology addresses this phenomenon in group dynamic theory, or what some call a “mob mentality.” Individuals are often influenced by a crowd and that influence often becomes violent, uniting them against and calling for the destruction of a scapegoat. After the death of the scapegoat, for a moment, there is social cohesion and peace. But the problems of mimetic rivalry return, and since the underlying problems are never addressed, the crowd converges against another scapegoat. Violence escalates in a never-ending cycle.
