I've been thinking about the abuse Dean has taking the last few months and this new thing with Kerry we now see building in this absurd botox story, and I can't help but think about the Pharmakos ritual, a common ancient Greek scapegoat ritual. (Pharmakos is the ancient word from which derives our modern word, pharmaceutical (purgative medicine)).
The Pharmakos was a real human being, or sometimes two: a man and a woman. They were criminals already condemned to death and chosen for their ugliness. They were pulled from the 'dregs' of the city who would be paraded around and cursed so that all the faults of the community would fall upon his/her shoulders, and then be ritually killed by mob violence. After the ritual, the city could then enjoy a renewal of fertility and prosperity for another year.
We now have a new word for Pharmakos, and it is 'Democratic front-runner', and the term to describe the ritual is oddly reminiscent of the bull with gilded horns. We say Dean has been "Gored" and it is beginning now for Kerry.
It is critically important for the country to break out of this cultural pattern. How?