Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

To understand precisely how states have utilized monsters asa form of social control, one should first explore the underlyingrelationship between humans and monsters. In Strangers, Gods, andMonsters: Interpreting Otherness, Richard Kearney discusses how “earlyWestern thought equated the Good with notions of self-identityand sameness” and evil with “notions of exteriority” (Kearney 65).In order to clearly differentiate good from evil, human beings thenneeded to create an other, and thus, the monster was born. As acultural creation, this monster functions as an identification systemfor human beings; it is “difference made flesh,” an explanation forthe malicious, immoral, and unusual (Cohen, “Monster Culture”7). Additionally, the monster is a “coping mechanism” that allowsfor the “transfer[ence] of responsibility” onto itself, removing anynegative implications from humanity (Cashman, and Cronin 408).Thus, the monster adopts the negativity that surrounds its’ bodyfor its own self; it comes to police the “borders of the possible,”“a warning against exploration” of these boundaries (Cohen,“Monster Culture” 12). As Cohen states, “to step outside this officialgeography”—or the borders defined by the monster’s presence—“is torisk attack by some monstrous border patrol or (worse) to becomemonstrous oneself” (12). Therefore, the monster is not only createdby humanity’s need to identify by exclusion, but given life, a physicalbody, and strict purpose through society’s fears.Governments throughout the world, past and present, recognizethe opportunity to achieve conformity through the monster. Here,I use the term governments to mean representatives of the declaredcommon good of society, establishers of the laws, and upholders ofthe social, political, religious, and economic interests of a nation.Additionally, it is important to recognize that these governments alsofunction as the basic form of a belief system; while humans oftensupplement their understandings of the world with further spiritualand religious beliefs, the foundation of a nation greatly affects116 afternoons of alterity