Girard's idea of mimetic violence, which is the result of people being too similar and not sufficiently different to be considered an un-threatening other, provides both explanatory and predictive power for the culture war as well. When we talk about the uncanny valley in tech, it's a similar visceral reaction. The out-group is us, and yet not us, and is thus an existential threat that makes total war seem inevitable. I didn't read his suggestions for how to unravel that Gordian (Girardian?) Knot, and rather hope he had some prescriptions for avoiding or rolling back points of no return.