In search of sorcery
Pope Benedict traveled to Angola recently to tell them they’re heathens. I figure he thought it best for Angola, since he just happens to be a white man in a white robe, wearing a white hat, in a country full of black people. But hey, people make mistakes (love these super-clear police affidavits) - I mean, I once remember, as a freshman in high school, running towards a girl I liked, then slipping and falling on some black ice, and her running over to see if I was O.K. (The mistake wasn’t the slipping, which cut my head open, it was not pursuing that girl; she was classy - she could have laughed, after all. Damned if I ain’t screwed: I have to slip and fall in front of every girl I date now to see if she’s up to snuff.)
The problem here is not just that you have an influential figure working to stamp out the remnants of an ancient culture, but the fact that there is so little being done to preserve or study or record it. Once these traditions are gone, they are likely gone forever (which would suit the Pope, and probably Rush Limbaugh, and maybe some other people who wear white robes and hats, just fine).
The problem I have with it is that cultural traditions preserve evolutionary features. Andean peoples, for instance, have developed, over centuries, physiological responses (e.g., larger lung capacity) as well as cultural traditions (e.g., chewing coca) to cope with high altitudes. In the context of hypnosis, if we are to believe it actually exists, then we must first define its role in human evolution; then, if that role is reasonable, we should subsequently be able to see hypnosis in varying forms in other cultures beyond our own. I believe these rituals Benedict is talking about extinguishing are where we can uncover these varying forms.
So what am I going to do about it? Well damn, that’s not on me: NBC didn’t like Tour Dementia and I have a pharmacology paper to write. I tried…