Everything about The Scapegoat totally explained
The
scapegoat was a
goat that was driven off into the wilderness as part of the ceremonies of
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in
Judaism during the times of the
Temple in Jerusalem. The rite is described in
Leviticus 16.
The word is more widely used as a
metaphor, referring to someone who is
blamed for misfortunes, generally as a way of distracting attention from the real causes.
Hebrew Bible
Azazel is the word translated as "scapegoat" in the
King James Version of the Bible (Leviticus chapter 16). In 1611 King James' translators borrowed the word
scapegoat from William Tyndale's translation from around 1530. Tyndale had translated
azazel (the name of the cliff the goat was pushed over, or more likely the demon in the desert to whom it was sent) as
ez ozel - literally, "the goat that departs"; hence "the goat that escapes," or, for short, "(e)scape goat." Since this goat, with the sins of the people placed on it, is then sent over a cliff or driven into the wilderness to perish, the word "scapegoat" has come to mean a person, often innocent, who is blamed and punished for the sins, crimes or sufferings of others.
Some modern scholars believe the "goat for Azazel" is sent away to the desert demon of that name, and that this isn't the name of a cliff or mountain, nor of the man who takes it into the wilderness. In fact, today in
modern Hebrew Azazel is used derogatorily, as in
lekh la-Azazel ("go to Azazel"), as in "go to
hell".
Christianity
In
Christian theology, the story of the scapegoat in
Leviticus is interpreted as a symbolic prefiguration of the self-sacrifice of
Jesus, who takes the
sins of humanity on his own head, having been driven into the 'wilderness' outside the city by order of the high priests.
Also see John 1:29 and Hebrews Chps. 9-10
Girard's socio-religious theory
The Christian anthropologist
René Girard has provided a reconstruction of the scapegoat theory. In Girard's view, it's humankind, not God, who has the problem with violence. Humans are driven by desire for that which another has or wants (mimetic desire). This causes a triangulation of desire and results in conflict between the desiring parties. This mimetic
contagion increases to a point where society is at risk; it's at this point that the
scapegoat mechanism is triggered. This is the point where one person is singled out as the cause of the trouble and is expelled or killed by the group. This person is the scapegoat. Social order is restored as people are contented that they've solved the cause of their problems by removing the scapegoated individual, and the cycle begins again. Girard contends that this is what happened in the case of Jesus. The difference in this case, Girard believes, is that he was resurrected from the dead and shown to be innocent; humanity is thus made aware of its violent tendencies and the cycle is broken. Satan, who is seen to be manifested in the contagion, is cast out. Thus Girard's work is significant as a re-construction of the
Christus Victor atonement theory.
Metaphor
When used as a
metaphor, a
scapegoat is someone selected to bear blame for a
calamity.
Scapegoating is the act of holding a person, group of people, or thing responsible for a multitude of problems. Related concepts include
frameup,
patsy,
whipping boy and
fall guy.
Political/sociological scapegoating
Scapegoating is an important tool of
propaganda; the most famous example in modern history is the singling out in
Nazi propaganda of the
Jews as the source of Germany's post-
World War I economic woes and political collapse.
Scapegoating is often more devastating when applied to a minority group as they're inherently less able to defend themselves. A tactic often employed is to characterize an entire group of individuals according to the unethical or immoral conduct of a small number of individuals belonging to that group, also known as
guilt by association.
"Scapegoated" groups throughout history have included almost every imaginable group of people: adherents of different religions, people of different races or nations, people with different political beliefs, or people differing in behaviour from the majority. However, scapegoating may also be applied to organizations, such as governments, corporations, or various political groups.
In industrialised societies, scapegoating of traditional minority groups is increasingly frowned upon.
Mobbing is a form of sociological scapegoating which occurs in the workplace. A summary of research on workplace mobbing by Kenneth Westhues, Prof. of Sociology University of Waterloo, published in OHS Canada, Canada's Occupational Health & Safety Magazine, Vol. 18, No. 8, December 2002, pp. 30-36.
"Scapegoating is an effective if temporary means of achieving group solidarity, when it can't be achieved in a more constructive way. It is a turning inward, a diversion of energy away from serving nebulous external purposes toward the deliciously clear, specific goal of ruining a disliked co-worker's life. ...
Mobbing can be understood as the stressor to beat all stressors. It is an impassioned, collective campaign by co-workers to exclude, punish, and humiliate a targeted worker. Initiated most often by a person in a position of power or influence, mobbing is a desperate urge to crush and eliminate the target. The urge travels through the workplace like a virus, infecting one person after another. The target comes to be viewed as absolutely abhorrent, with no redeeming qualities, outside the circle of acceptance and respectability, deserving only of contempt. As the campaign proceeds, a steadily larger range of hostile ploys and communications comes to be seen as legitimate."
Scapegoating in sports
In
sports, scapegoats are common. In
baseball,
Bill Buckner is blamed for losing the
1986 World Series due to a critical error, and in Japan, the
Hanshin Tigers blame the
Curse of the Colonel on their repeated failure to win at the
Japan Series.
Steve Bartman was blamed for catching a ball that could have been recorded as an out for the
Chicago Cubs in the
2003 National League Championship Series and would have sent the Cubs to the World Series for the first time in 58 years.
In
American football,
Scott Norwood is
blamed for losing Super Bowl XXV for the
Buffalo Bills by missing the probable game winning field goal.
Andrés Escobar, a Colombian
football player, was shot dead after he scored an
own goal that knocked his team out of the 1994 World Cup.
Marc-Andre Fleury, a Canadian
ice hockey goalie is blamed for losing the
2004 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships gold medal game to the United States. As he came out of his net to clear the puck out of the defensive zone it bounced off
Patrick O'Sullivan's leg and into the empty net.
Herschelle Gibbs is held as the scapegoat for Australia's triumph and hence South Africa's exit from the
Cricket World Cup of 1999 for dropping Australian captain
Steve Waugh, who went on to score a century to lead his side to victory and survival in the tournament. When the two sides met again in the semi-final South Africa were eliminated. Gibbs' was particularly criticised for the nature of his drop. Having seemingly caught the ball he instantly tossed it into the air in celebration, thereby failing to secure complete control. Immediately after the incident Waugh reputedly told Gibbs, "You've just dropped the World Cup". Both parties have subsequently denied this.
Scapegoating in psychoanalytic theory
Psychoanalytic theory holds that unwanted thoughts and feelings can be unconsciously
projected onto another who becomes a scapegoat for one's own problems. This concept can be extended to projection by groups. In this case the chosen individual, or group, becomes the scapegoat for the group's problems. In other words, blaming another person or thing, for your own problems.
The
Karpman Drama Triangle does a fine job of illustrating the Rescuer, Persecutor and Victim roles attendant in the scapegoating dynamic in any relationship of three or more people.
Rodger Garrett asserts that early life habituation to scapegoating can result in a paranoid interpersonal orientation with a likelihood of
passive-aggressive personality traits in adolescence leading to unfortunate parataxical integrations (see
Harry Stack Sullivan) between parents and teenagers.
If the scapegoating pattern continues into early adulthood, development towards healthy personal
identity is likely to be compromised, with strong likelihood of
histrionic, compensatory
narcissistic, and/or
obsessive-compulsive, as well as passive-aggressive traits. Fully-criterial
personality disorders are likely, leading to severe, ego-protecting "affect management behaviors" including
alcoholism,
drug addiction and other substance and behavioral process disorders.
Scapegoating in ancient Greece
The ancient Greeks practiced a scapegoating rite in which a cripple or beggar or criminal (the
pharmakos) was cast out of the community, either in response to a natural disaster (such as a plague, famine or an invasion) or in response to a calendrical crisis (such as the end of the year). The scholia refer to the
pharmakos being killed, but many scholars reject this, and argue that the earliest evidence (the fragments of the iambic satirist Hipponax) only show the
pharmakos being stoned, beaten and driven from the community.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Scapegoat'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://scapegoat.totallyexplained.com">Scapegoat Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
