You have probably heard of the quote from Voltaire:
"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him"
There are books worth of inferences and implications from just that simple line with it's subtext worded carefully to avoid problems with the author's well being. And with the religious right influencing things these days and the vileness seeping out all over in the election you wonder how much further we have to go to where Voltaire's little tease won't be so controversial.
But in a way he was wrong or partially wrong about people and their motivations. Since his time we have had Darwin and more modern understanding of our primate roots, plus recent understanding of brain structure, emotions and fear response I think his quote could be rephrased as:
"If bogeymen did not exist, it would be necessary to invent them"
And invent him we do over and over again in many guises. Quite apart from the need for God, the widespread need for a Bogeyman extends all through history and even today these fears infest our politics. McCain and Palin personified it recently and many others have not only kept the bogeymen alive and well in America but inflamed it even more of late.
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