The notion of the
barbaric I would agree springs from an ipsocentric dichotomizing of
mankind: The self, and those rare and comforting counterparts sharing
in the cultural, political, theological, ideological, aesthetic or
sexual (whatever the case may be) sensibilities and biases of the
self, are understood to be in some abstract sense superior to the
excluded peoples.
Looking to etymology
and the rite of Babel: The root of "barbaric" ("barbar")
echoes the prima facie nonsensical vocalizations of foreign-speakers
speaking a foreign tongue. The myth of Babel may be the purest
parable of the 'barbarizing' influence of language: A culture
naturally feels an affinity for those who speak its native language;
and the innate xenophobia typical of organisms serves to reject as
stupid, absurd or uncultured ("barbarbarbarbar") those
outlanders who, with their alien and threatening (because
unintelligible) noises, make too obscure a music.
Montaigne, with a
winking wit, underscores the folly of mankind in its attachment to
these ipsocentric notions of superior-self and barbarous-other: "[W]e
have no other test of truth and reason than the...opinions and
customs of the country we live in. There is always the perfect
religion, the perfect government, the perfect and accomplished manner
in all things" (1653). It's the silliness and ignorance of
mankind that seems to amuse Montaigne: for the fact that for every
cultural inherence a vast nation of the "barbarous" horde
encroaches on every side; every alien culture is a barbarous one: a
chaos of folly and false polarity.
The culture of the
U.S. Armed Forces is one I might call more barbarous than my own.
Murder, patriotic deceit, anonymous heavy-handedness, Amerocentrism,
espionage, collateral damage, interrogation under duress---these are
concepts and behaviors so alien to my way of life and thought
processes I might easily mistake them for the "barbarbarbarbar"-ing
of a barbarian horde.
Montaigne, Michel
De. "Of Cannibals." The Norton Anthology of World
Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013.
1651-1660. Print.
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