Barbarians and civilized people

The two origins of modern Western civilization, one is the civil society of Greece and Rome, and the other is Christianity. Although in the past few decades, in most Western countries, there have been fewer and fewer people going to churches; but it is undeniable that Christianity is still an important part of the mainstream ideology of these countries. As far as the United Kingdom is concerned, Christianity is not only the state religion, but also a manifestation of a person’s belonging to the mainstream society: you can not go to church on Sunday, but the three most critical life milestones of birth, marriage and death are inseparable from the pastor. . Christmas and Easter, as the two most important holidays in the UK, are also related to Christianity. In addition, the middle and upper classes in the UK are prevalent in charitable activities, many of which are still organized by Christian groups such as the Salvation Army.

As for civil society, as a heritage of ancient Greece and Rome, the Enlightenment in Europe was once again carried forward. Civil society in the West emphasizes the rule of law, democracy, and reason, but we need to pay attention to the fact that what we usually think of as freedom in the West is not absolute, and can only be exercised without harming others and mainstream social values. France's prohibition of Muslim women from wearing headscarves in public reflects the restrictions on freedom in civil society.

After so much talk, it's time to talk about this movie. Police Officer Howie can be said to represent the mainstream of the Western legal society and the Christian spirit at the same time, and as a confident "civilized man" ascended to this remote Scottish island Summerisle. Although his mission was only to find the whereabouts of the missing girl Rowan, he showed all kinds of contempt and disdain for the weird customs and rituals on the island during the mission. The villagers on the island followed the ancient Celtic religious rituals and lived a life of spiritual communication with nature, believing that everything is anim and human beings are also part of nature, so they are not ashamed of such activities as group sex and wild friendship; In school, children are instilled in the belief of genital worship very early. Obviously, Officer Howie could not accept all this, he believed that the value system he believed in was the only correct one. His arrogant superiority is concentrated in the sentence "You are subjects of a Christian country". Obviously, in Howie's eyes, Lord Summerisle and the villagers on the island are barbarians waiting to be civilized.

During the European Enlightenment, philosophers such as Rousseau once put forward the proposition of "noble savage", that is, Western civilization has tainted the goodness of human beings, and people in primitive tribes live in harmony with nature, so the most simple. During the same period, Western navigators explored the Pacific Ocean and had initial contact with the natives of Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii. Some of their bloody experiences shattered the proposition of "noble barbarians": in fact, due to ignorance, The tribes who believe in nature religion can also be quite cruel. The most typical case is the tragedy of British explorer James Cook who was killed by Maori on the island of Hawaii and eaten as a sacrifice. Of course, just like Police Officer Howie in this movie, Cook also had a self-sufficient element in that matter: the "civilized" British pretentiously held the banner of saving the world on both sides of Christianity and reason, and this arrogance was repeated again and again. Killed them all at once.

Before being invaded by civilized Rome, Great Britain was also a land of barbarians. In fact, many of the Celtic rituals shown in this movie came from the British Isles before Rome. However, it is said that the sacrificial ceremony of burning the wicker man at the end of the movie was deliberately fabricated by the conqueror Caesar in order to deface the island.

Oh, why do you do to others what you don't want?

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