Conflict between anti-Jes Grew parties
Something that struck me as interesting about Mumbo Jumbo was how much factionalism there was between people who should arguably be fighting for the same thing. The Knights of Templar vs the Teutonic Knights, and eventually the conflict's succession with the Order of The Wallflower, and perhaps even the Knights of Pythias and Knights of the White Camelia that were mentioned, suggested as being other factions. Even Warren Harding, an anti Jes-Grew president, and powerful figure was assassinated at the drop of the hat
The conflicts themselves are not of extreme interest, but I think something important to look at is why. It is a deliberate choice made by the author to place such special attention on these historical feuds, contrasted with a relatively unified social movement in support of a psychological virus. Given Jes Grew's role as a metaphor for revolutionary social movements, it is important to understand the anti-Jes Grew movement as the upholder of the status quo and a suppressing force.
Throughout the history of upheaval and "radicalism," opposition has always been everyone that the state of affairs benefits—the state, but also the classes and groups that are raised in the hierarchy by it. Class struggle, war, imperialism, plunder, slavery, and subjugation: in all these, the status quo has a broad cohort of defenders. In modern times, the entirety of the state is a function against change, no matter what side of the supposed aisle it rests on. Here, Reed may be illustrating that this war is inter-competing factions with different secondary interests, but the same primary interest. They may seem to be distinct and have different goals and ideology, but they all need Jes Grew to be gone.
Well written! I really like your opinion on how the factionalism in Mumbo Jumbo is interesting, given the often-overlapping interests. I think your exploration of the 'why' is eye-opening -- it's a deliberate choice made by Reed to emphasize these conflicts and social movements.
ReplyDeleteI never looked at the different factions with much interest. As far as I was concerned, the Knights of Templar and the Wallflower Order were the only ones that had any relevance. So, I found it interesting how you also brought up other factions as an example, and I definitely see why Reed decided to add all of them.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that Reed depicts his "secret society" as infected with all this rivalry and infighting and centuries-old grudges--it does fly in the face of more typical depictions of secret societies and conspiracy theories, where the "men in the dark room" meeting to determine the fate of the world always seem terrifyingly competent. There is something humorous, to be sure, about these bumbling in-fighting conspiracists (imagine a depiction of the Illuminati as sniping at each other and arguing over who gets to be in charge of the next world war). Reed depicts the conspiracy as powerful, but not all-powerful.
ReplyDeleteWow, reading all the blog posts from this book have made me realize how many little points and interesting aspects of Mumbo Jumbo I didn't really process. While Reed's inclusion of many different orders such as The Knights of Templar and the Order of the Wallflower were confusing and hard to keep track of at first, I think you make a great point about how they are a pretty accurate depiction on how these movements and anti-movements work: groups with different ideas and motivations all coming together for a common purpose. Great post!
ReplyDeleteYou explained this very well and I particularly liked the end of the post and your analysis of why the opposition can't seem to come together. We are more used to the antagonists, oppressors, opposing side, etc. being very unified and focused not on their internal disagreements but that they all are upset about something and want to stop it. So the way that the anti-Jes Grew groups fight with each other so much is definitely different.
ReplyDeleteI like your blog because it is concise and you bring up interesting points of discussion. The idea of factions within the government are fighting for the same cause and yet against one another is something I hadn't thought of. I do wonder how two groups fighting for the same thing could be against one another, but I can see a lot of examples of this in everyday life as well.
ReplyDeleteHi, great post! You definitely bring up a lot of good points, and I really didn't notice this aspect of the book till now. It's another one of those hidden puzzle pieces that are left scattered all over the book. And I think you did a good job of actually trying to ask why the author did what he did with the secret societies.
ReplyDeleteNice post, and I definitely agree with you that Reed is making a deliberate choice to have the historical feud between the anti-Jes Grew forces. It shows how even if powerful groups dislike each other, they dislike losing their power even more, which is what is shown in Mumbo Jumbo.
ReplyDeleteI really like this post, and it goes deeper on a topic that I initially brushed off as just vaguely amusing and humorous. there’s just something ridiculous about watching all these factions try to undermine each other for what seem like slightly petty reasons. I do think having all these factions with basically the same goal highlights how much they are doing things because of their values, and how much they’re doing stuff just so they remain on the top of the food chain. Like you said, they all have the same primary interest, but it seems like their only difference in interest is who they think should be in charge - themselves, and no one else, basically. They try to keep their values on the top because it at least keeps all of the factions on their side near the top, but it’s not enough. They all want to be at the very, very top
ReplyDeleteI definitely felt the same thing when I was reading the book. I was just constantly thinking "why are there so many different organizations?", and I think it's to show the difference between atonism and Jes Grew. Atonism is a thing created by people, as a response to Jes Grew. However, Jes Grew isn't created by people. It surpasses our understanding, it controls us, rather than us controlling it. So the fact that there are so many different groups with different names kind of shows that atonism is fighting a battle that it will inevitably lose, over and over again until the people behind it get tired (I think that also is shown by Hinkle Von Vampton's age, and that after all these years he is still unsuccessfully trying to overthrow Jes Grew). Great post!
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