Trafika Europe 9/10 - UK in Europe

All the voices

has certain qualities that fits them for the role and other people pick up on this at the unconscious level. At first I thought the selection of an individual who could be pounced upon at every turn of fate was purely arbitrary, but I’ve discounted that in favour of the idea there is something in thecharacter that draws the abusers forward. For a start the candidate has to be perceived as an outsider. And realise this – a group loves nothing better than having an outsider to rail against. I mean, it makes them feel all warm and belonging. Makes them all knitted together. Until an outsider is identified there’s an undercurrent of anxiety in any little group. Because, yes, that instinct I was just talking about makes its members see

the necessity of having an outsider placed inside there with the rest. And each person present, no matter how conventional and unremarkable they may be, will have the unvoiced worry that it will be them. Everybody present in the house was unconsciously searching for their own house-pet outsider when I turned up. They didn’t recognise me at first it’s true, but then instinct is not always so ahead of the game as it’s cracked up to be. The outsider could have turned out to be Glea, or even Noisy, who’d been in the house longer than anyone. When Flake turned up things were still open to begin with but they started to crystallize at last as the instincts of the inhabitants fused into

159