I See Satan Fall Like Lightning

by René Girard

Once we apprehend the biblical criticism of mimetic contagion and its results, we can understand the biblical profundity of the talmudic principle that Emmanuel Levinas often cites: "If every-one is in agreement to condemn someone accused, release him for he must be innocent." Unanimity in human groups is rarely a vehicle of truth; more often it is nothing but a mimetic, tyrannical phenomenon. It resembles unanimous elections in totalitarian countries.