An allegory based on the Yugoslav slogan of “brotherhood and unity” may not be entirely out of place. The very existence of the copula “and” in this slogan suggests a barely concealed father of nations, a dominant figure personifying the imposition of unity. Copulation from above. Preempting patricide by timely death, our hero unwittingly channels the accumulated resentment into fratricide, the secret kernel of residual brotherhood. The bellum internecinum as a projection of the collective Oedipus complex…

Addendum (November 11, 2016)

This sketch was even funny when it was penned. At the time, the father of nations was dead and buried for no more than three years. A bit less than a decade before the bellum internecinum started in earnest, most Yugoslavs were only dimly aware of the imminent future. A bit less than two decades after the bloody breakup, which ended up much more bloody than the bloodiest of forecasts, the slogan of “brotherhood and unity” is hardly funny. And so is the notion of the father of nations. Right now, it would take real guts to come up with an allegory about the collective Oedipus complex, for Yugoslavia is believed to be dead and buried. The only remnant of relentless copulation from above is the venom with which any mention of “brotherhood and unity” is welcomed. Deep in many a heart, the dread is still alive.