And it is generally human shaped because that made it a lot easier to spin it as “This effigy represents The Other tribe across the river. They are the bad people and the cause of all your problems” as needed.

It’s too bad that the “other tribe” technique still works so well in today’s politics.

If people ever started paying attention to the meta of the species, they’d realize we’re all more like each other than we think.

And in all seriousness: if you ever get the chance, go to an ACTUAL effigy burning festival.

I would, the way you describe it makes it sounds like a really nice event to see.

That is, as long as there’s not heavy torrent of rain washing everything out.

Thanks for the reply / explanation, it was a good read.