[TomB]

Everyone seems to need a devil to blame things on: vaccines, fluoride, nuclear power, technology, banks, rich people, Dar al Harb, US of KKKA, whitey, the Joooos. A lot of people don't need a financial interest at all. There are always a few, though, who manage to find some way of fomenting and capitalizing on those fears. Some prefer the simplicity of blaming on the devil himself. Others need something more tangible they can appear to exert influence on.

Well said. (as usual) ;-)

[aruanan]

Everyone seems to need a devil to blame things on: vaccines, fluoride, nuclear power, technology, banks, rich people, Dar al Harb, US of KKKA, whitey, the Joooos. A lot of people don't need a financial interest at all. There are always a few, though, who manage to find some way of fomenting and capitalizing on those fears. Some prefer the simplicity of blaming on the devil himself. Others need something more tangible they can appear to exert influence on.

Hmm, somehow "their troubles" got left out after "blaming." Anyway, it's all the essence of magic--characterize a foe or a god and then invent procedures to feel like you've turned the first aside or pleased the second or placated either one of them. In the last hundred years or so, some of these groups have gotten a bit more direct in the immanentizing of their anti-eschaton, using guillotines, starvation, marches out to the death fields, and embassy/WTC bombings to rid themselves of their devils so that the new world will magically spring up. This is because it's easier to swing a machete than to get along. Besides, getting along doesn't permit one to feel justified while committing atrocity like fighting the devil incarnate does.