Sacrifice: Collective Group Study

Sacrifice, a word that one may not comprehend or perceive when it is put into context. One who sacrifices constantly may not realize the extent of their sacrifice. Throughout history, humans have sacrificed. Frequently done to earn respect or acknowledgement of their God. For example, the ancient Aztec civilizations had regular sacrificial ceremonies to show worship to their God. The most prominent sacrifice of the human race was Jesus Christ. In modern time, sacrifice is not as tremendous as it was in the Aztec civilization or the crucifixion of Jesus. However, if one looks closely at America today, one will see daily sacrifices people face. Many sacrifices can be seen in one’s world every day, but specifically in stories that have been around …show more content…
The study inquires a group of people acting together; but it is more spontaneous, volatile, and less predictable than behavior traditional groups with purposes. There was a case study where a woman was influenced by the impulse that is common and collective. The psychological aspect showed how the women behaved the same way as the group not because of an established force of authority or the individuals having the same attitudes; the women chose to follow the behavior of the group because of the distinctive group process. The incident of the vultures is an example of a collective group study. The amount of vultures indicated Romulus was the fittest and therefore introduced the scapegoat mechanism. Remus was seen as the scapegoat because he only received six vultures. The group of people can be the object of the group’s hatred; the amount of vultures showed strength. The population showed imitation by which vultures flew to each leader and was convinced Remus was weak. His image was altered because the group saw a lack of differentiation which resulted of Remus being killed as a sacrifice of the …show more content…
Abel and Remus are portrayed as weak which develops the sacrificial violence that occurs. Throughout Cain and Romulus’s entire lives, they were taught to look for ways to differentiate themselves from those around them. The population gravitates to those with a similar sense of self and views of others. When having the belief God or the population was on their “side”, they had the ability to persecute when their beliefs are proved to be wrong in face of a lack of differentiation. Cain and Romulus opposed Abel and Remus in their minds as different and distinct going so far as to create lies about their brothers to justify their beliefs. One will believe anything that creates a sense of differentiation because a lack of differentiation would shatter their sense of self as well as leaving logic behind in the pursuit of shallow self-affirmation of their set ideas of others. Girard makes the argument that a breakdown in a lack of differentiation has negative effects on society as a whole. Moreover one will go at any length from having this realization made possible which Cain and Romulus do. Through history people have shown that they prefer to be different in the ways by physical in nature and superficial. Cain and Romulus only looked so far into their brothers and made their judgments from that short examination believing sacrificing their brothers was