“Scapegoat theory refers to the tendency to blame someone else for one's own problems, a process that often results in feelings of prejudice toward the person or group that one is blaming. Scapegoating serves as an opportunity to explain failure or misdeeds, while maintaining one's positive self-image” (iResearchNet).
Scapegoating has been around for a very, very long time. One may even find scapegoating in the Bible as a way to deal with the sins of the people. The sins of the tribe would be placed upon the shoulders of the scapegoat (a real goat) and then sent out into the wilderness to die.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief: “All is well because the scapegoat carried away our sins.” Life would return to some sense of normalcy, until the next time a scapegoat was needed.
Understood in this way it is clear why the late Rene Girard considered Jesus as the ultimate and final Scapegoat needed.
Yet Social Psychology has expanded this definition of scapegoating to include the element of blaming others for one’s failures, shortcomings, or problems in order to affirm one's own self-esteem (see definition above):
"If I blame so and so I can then feel good about myself or my position."
Such scapegoating was historically evident during the rise of Adolf Hitler in pre-World War II Germany. Hitler blamed everyone from the Treaty of Versailles, that ended World War I, to the Jews for Germany’s woes; Gypsies and homosexuals were not excluded in this blame game.
The tragic effects of such scapegoating are now a part of the historical record. The Holocaust is one of the darkest blots on human history and was instigated in large part by scapegoating.
Most of us would wipe our brow and say:
“Thank the Lord that’s over with.”
Well not so fast, it isn’t.
Maybe not to the extent we saw in Hitler’s Germany, but nonetheless the scapegoat tendency is alive and well and this concerns me because I know where such blame casting (scapegoating) can go.
In actuality scapegoating is rarely based upon facts, but instead upon innuendo, half truths, and outright lies, some even intentionally fabricated. For the Christian to engage in this brand of scapegoating is in serious violation of “bearing false witness” towards another (or another group of people).
When I hear people scapegoat homosexuals for the demise of the traditional family my heart breaks because it’s not only unfair but untrue?
When I hear folks scapegoat President Obama for political correctness I wonder what really lies beneath their disgust for respecting another person’s integrity (which is what political correctness is all about)? Let's also remember that political correctness has been around longer than Mr. Obama has been President.
When I hear folks scapegoat liberals (insert “conservative” if that applies to you) and accuse them of "destroying America" I wonder if they have ever studied American history and realize the many contributions both liberals and conservatives have made to America?
My point is that scapegoating adds no quality to our lives together as a nation. It aims to separate, segregate, divide, and subvert our social contract to live together as Americans.
More importantly, scapegoating of this type violates the very essence of the Christian Gospel, which is to reconcile humans rather than divide them.
More tragically, scapegoating is a poor way to build up one’s own self-image. Tearing another person down or another group of persons down in order to make yourself (or your group) feel good about yourself is awfully sad.
Such scapegoating leads to horrific conflicts, bloody wars, and horrible atrocities such as the Holocaust. History is full of tragic atrocities caused by scapegoating. It serves no profitable purpose for any of us. It’s just too easy to cast blame upon others while excusing yourself for any responsibility for society’s problems.
While in college I read the incredible account of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s 12 year experience in a Russian Gulag (prison) in Siberia. It was a brutal and nasty Imprisonment. Solzhenitsyn was nothing more than a Communist scapegoat.
Yet he emerged from that horrific experience with one of the great insights of human history:
That the world cannot be simply divided into the bad guys and the good guys.
Such insight compelled Solzhenitsyn to write:
“The battle line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.”
Perhaps this is the grace and wisdom we need to end our scapegoating once and for all.
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