"Anti-liberal revolts almost invariably contain a deep hatred of the City, that is to say, everything represented by urban civilization: commerce, mixed populations, artistic freedom, sexual license, scientific pursuits, leisure, personal safety, wealth, and its usual concomitant, power."

Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit
The New York Review of Books
January 17, 2002

The city and the country are powerful duality symbols. While one could argue that the symbolism of the city might be related more to western culture than eastern culture, a better way to view the duality of city and country is as a psychological duality rather than a geographic one. (The same way we suggest the general symbols of East and West should be seen.) The country represents nature and unconsciousness while the city represents culture, civilization and consciousness. Life moves from unconsciousness into consciousness. In a sense one could say that symbols move from the country to the city.

Images of the two have formed some of the most powerful genres of American films in the country of western films to the city of detective films. They have also served as powerful narrative story lines. Everyone is familiar with the often-repeated story line of the innocent country bumpkin who comes to the big city where he or she is corrupted by material things and then loses innocence. One of the most popular television series in history, The Beverly Hillbillies, was a humorous variation of this theme. The film Mulholland Drive by David Lynch is a darker modern re-working of this theme.

The same drama has been repeated throughout the world, but its symbolism has been put into much more ominous use than for Hollywood genres or story lines. Rather than representing a contrast between the cycles of time (youth versus age) the symbols of city and country have been put to work as symbols of evil and goodness. The most far-reaching use of this theme has been in the political arena. In effect, this symbolism has been one of the key images behind some of the greatest totalitarian movements and dictators of modern times.

As critics Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit note, there are echoes of the city and country symbolism in Hitler's life in Vienna, Pol Pot's in Paris, Mao's in Beijing, as well as the lives of many Muslim youth in Cairo, Haifa, Manchester or Hamburg. In these various lives, the city is a great evil corrupting force.

One of the most famous literary images of the city as a corrupting force and breeding ground for anarchists is the London of Joseph Conrad's Secret Agent, written in 1903 and first published serially in the New York weekly Ridgeway's in 1906 and 1907. The story weaves around an attack on the Greenwich Observatory in 1894 masterminded by Verlac, a Russian spy working for the police, and ostensibly a member of an anarchist group in Soho.

Historically, the city as evil symbol finds greatest expression in the ancient superpower of Babylon. As Buruma and Margalit remind, holy men of the three monotheistic religions—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—denounced Babylon as the sinful city-state whose politics, military might, and very urban civilization posed an arrogant challenge to God. The fabled tower of Babylon within the city was a powerful symbol of hubris and idolatry.

The Bible speaks of Babylon and the tower of Babylon in a number of places. A few of the relevant passages are from Genesis and Revelation:

"Let us build a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name." (Genesis 11:4)

"…the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth." (Revelation 17:5)

There are also passages in the Koran relating to Babylon, particularly 16:26, which says, "Allah took their structures from their foundation, and the roof fell down on them from above; and the Wrath seized them from directions they did not perceive."

One could make a good argument that the dual symbols of city and country have served as a type of place symbolism for the war against terrorism. The grand Symbol City of the west was attacked by terrorists living in the caves and hills of a desolate country—symbols of the Middle East and especially symbols related to the birth of major world religions. (Interestingly enough, September 11th terrorist Atta and gang followed the old story line that the city corrupts. While they were from the country, they had to come to the "city" and lived there for a number of months before the attacks. They even visited cities like Las Vegas for meetings. The corrupting influence of the "city" again worked its old Hollywood story line on them catching Atta in a topless club in Florida the night before the attacks.)

In attacking New York City, terrorists were perhaps attacking the symbol of the city more than (the popular notion) the symbol of capitalism or freedom. Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit expressed it well when they observed, "The modern city, representing all that shimmers just out of our reach, all the glittering arrogance and harlotry of the West, has found its icon in the Manhattan skyline." One could add that the ancient city of Babylon (in the terrorists' minds) found its icon in New York City. And to them, the tower of Babylon (of course) became the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Copyright © 2002 John Fraim. All Rights Reserved.

John Fraim is a writer and publisher and resident of California. This piece forms a chapter of his upcoming book Battle of Symbols. See more examples of his work at: www.symbolism.org