Scapegoating is when a person uses another person as an outlet for issues rather than focusing on the issues themselves. Another person, and even Satan are usually blamed for people's mistakes instead of those people holding accountability for themselves and their actions (Bennett.n.d). According to Arthur Colman, M.D, scapegoating is a form of sacrifice, one that forces a person to take the burden of someone else's problems. While scapegoating is usually done to groups of people, but can also be done to individuals.
Arthur Coleman also states that a scapegoat is usually exiled from their peers, bringing feelings of loneliness and isolation to the person being scapegoated. They are exiled since the blamed is placed upon them instead of the problem at hand, or the person who is scapegoating will not admit their wrongdoing,therefore the problem can not be fixed. Eric Brahm writes that scapegoating was termed in the bible particularly in the Book of Leviticus.. It entailed the high priest choosing a goat to take the sins of the people of the land for them so they did not have to carry those sins anymore (Brahm.2004).
As said by Bishop Robert Barron, when the mob were going to stone the woman for adultery, she was their scapegoat. No one is perfect, but they felt they had to shame her because she sinned. The crowd were not aware of their own wrongdoing... murder which is also a sin. Their only focus was her sin and how they must condemn evil although no one is perfect as Jesus said to the crowd. Te crowd wanted to condemn her for her sin but forgot the good she did in her life because they were so obsessed with being perfect when someone did something wrong they transferred their guilt over any of their sins onto her thus wanting to stone her because of their anger against her for sinning while forgetting their sins. Bishop Barron also talks about how scapegoating brings people together in their common idea that someone else is "bad," or "evil" for it is something we can all get along about, others are bad and we are all good(Barron. April,01 2001).
Scapegoaters feel they are in always right, they are the good person who must banish out "evildoers" by hurtful words and actions. Scapegoaters believe they must punish the other person to make things right again rather than observing and punishing /fixing the problem.
According to the Raven Foundation, the best way to end scapegoating someone is forcing yourself to listen to their side of the story even if it means see how you were wrong in the situation. When there is an issue no one is 100% in the right, by listening to someone else's point of view and how you hurt them, you are allowing yourself to diminish your ability to scapegoat them. You do this because you are not putting the blame onto them, but onto the situation and what you contributed to the problem so you can fix it.
Society needs a scapegoat so they have someone to blame for all of their problems because he or she can not admit their downfalls about themselves. Since people feel they are never wrong and is always perfect, they need to blame someone else is something in their life is less than perfect for it can never be their fault. According to Geoff at The Authentic Channel on Youtube, some people will project their inner turmoil onto another person so they do not have to face it themselves. Since some people are afraid to admit their inner feelings,such as shame or sadness, they make other people look evil. A good example by Geoff is that if you do not talk to a person and they wanted you too, instead of admitting it hurt them that you didn't talk to them,you are self centered, mean person.
As stated by Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM writing for the Center of Action and Contemplation, scapegoating is often done by our ego. Our ego gets in the way of us admitting to ourselves or others if we are angry or upset. We can not admit we were wrong so we blame others for our shortcomings. We had no part in any negative situations so it must have been the other person's fault. Our ego causes us to believe our partner caused the fight because we are never wrong or at fault, and then our loved ones become the scapegoat for our relationship troubles or our bad day. Steven Walker writes that scapegoating is usually the result of the defense mechanism, projection (Walker.n.d).
Always try to see what you may have done wrong in the situation, don't blame people, but blame things. Don't blame your spouse for a fight because it takes two people to create an arrangement. Your partner is most likely innocent in some fights and scapegoaters know this so they make the innocent person the problem. Don't blame your partner for your sadness during an argument, blame the argument for your anger or sadness, blame the sadness itself for your emotional state. Recognize your own faults before blaming others for what goes from it your life. Instead of blaming a bad day on a spouse blame the bad day for what happened that day.
As said by Bishop Robert Barron, when the mob were going to stone the woman for adultery, she was their scapegoat. No one is perfect, but they felt they had to shame her because she sinned. The crowd were not aware of their own wrongdoing... murder which is also a sin. Their only focus was her sin and how they must condemn evil although no one is perfect as Jesus said to the crowd. Te crowd wanted to condemn her for her sin but forgot the good she did in her life because they were so obsessed with being perfect when someone did something wrong they transferred their guilt over any of their sins onto her thus wanting to stone her because of their anger against her for sinning while forgetting their sins. Bishop Barron also talks about how scapegoating brings people together in their common idea that someone else is "bad," or "evil" for it is something we can all get along about, others are bad and we are all good(Barron. April,01 2001).
Scapegoaters feel they are in always right, they are the good person who must banish out "evildoers" by hurtful words and actions. Scapegoaters believe they must punish the other person to make things right again rather than observing and punishing /fixing the problem.
According to the Raven Foundation, the best way to end scapegoating someone is forcing yourself to listen to their side of the story even if it means see how you were wrong in the situation. When there is an issue no one is 100% in the right, by listening to someone else's point of view and how you hurt them, you are allowing yourself to diminish your ability to scapegoat them. You do this because you are not putting the blame onto them, but onto the situation and what you contributed to the problem so you can fix it.
Society needs a scapegoat so they have someone to blame for all of their problems because he or she can not admit their downfalls about themselves. Since people feel they are never wrong and is always perfect, they need to blame someone else is something in their life is less than perfect for it can never be their fault. According to Geoff at The Authentic Channel on Youtube, some people will project their inner turmoil onto another person so they do not have to face it themselves. Since some people are afraid to admit their inner feelings,such as shame or sadness, they make other people look evil. A good example by Geoff is that if you do not talk to a person and they wanted you too, instead of admitting it hurt them that you didn't talk to them,you are self centered, mean person.
As stated by Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM writing for the Center of Action and Contemplation, scapegoating is often done by our ego. Our ego gets in the way of us admitting to ourselves or others if we are angry or upset. We can not admit we were wrong so we blame others for our shortcomings. We had no part in any negative situations so it must have been the other person's fault. Our ego causes us to believe our partner caused the fight because we are never wrong or at fault, and then our loved ones become the scapegoat for our relationship troubles or our bad day. Steven Walker writes that scapegoating is usually the result of the defense mechanism, projection (Walker.n.d).
Always try to see what you may have done wrong in the situation, don't blame people, but blame things. Don't blame your spouse for a fight because it takes two people to create an arrangement. Your partner is most likely innocent in some fights and scapegoaters know this so they make the innocent person the problem. Don't blame your partner for your sadness during an argument, blame the argument for your anger or sadness, blame the sadness itself for your emotional state. Recognize your own faults before blaming others for what goes from it your life. Instead of blaming a bad day on a spouse blame the bad day for what happened that day.
References
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. (1998, July 20). Britannica.com. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/scapegoat
Scapegoat Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2017, from http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/scapegoat_theory.htm
Burton, N. (2013, December 21). The Psychology of Scapegoating. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201312/the-psychology-scapegoating
Cohler-Esses, R. D. (n.d.). Scapegoating | My Jewish Learning. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/scapegoating/
[Tedx Talks]. (2012 Oct. 25th.) Beyond scapegoating: Arthur Colman at TEDxPrinceAlbert.[Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjBBhYCpLk0
Good Therapy, (2017, February 17). Scapegoat. Retrieved April 14, 2017, from http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/scapegoat
Brahm, E. (2004, September). Scapegoating | Beyond Intractability. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/scapegoating
Barron, R., Bishop. (2001, April 01). Scapegoating | Word on Fire. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/homily/scapegoating/493/
Walker, S. (n.d.). Scapegoating and the Innocent Victim. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://honorscollege.rutgers.edu/scapegoating-and-the-innocent-victim
Bennett, B., PhD. (n.d.). Scapegoating. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/158/Scapegoating
Scapegoating - The Raven Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2017, from https://www.ravenfoundation.org/scapegoating/
[The Authentic Channel]. (2014. Aug. 20th) Why Narcissists Need A Scapegoat
. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0dSwaGkTjY
Peace and Harmony. Putting An End To Toxic Narcissistic Scapegoating (2016 Dec 17)
[Video File].https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDS6_pqiOok
Critical Thinking, Logic, and Argumentation (ReasonIO) (2015 Mar 15). Critical Thinking: The Fallacy of Scapegoating. [Video FIle] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HBYK7ymXBI
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. (1998, July 20). Britannica.com. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/scapegoat
Scapegoat Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2017, from http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/scapegoat_theory.htm
Burton, N. (2013, December 21). The Psychology of Scapegoating. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201312/the-psychology-scapegoating
Cohler-Esses, R. D. (n.d.). Scapegoating | My Jewish Learning. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/scapegoating/
[Tedx Talks]. (2012 Oct. 25th.) Beyond scapegoating: Arthur Colman at TEDxPrinceAlbert.[Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjBBhYCpLk0
Good Therapy, (2017, February 17). Scapegoat. Retrieved April 14, 2017, from http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/scapegoat
Brahm, E. (2004, September). Scapegoating | Beyond Intractability. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/scapegoating
Barron, R., Bishop. (2001, April 01). Scapegoating | Word on Fire. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/homily/scapegoating/493/
Walker, S. (n.d.). Scapegoating and the Innocent Victim. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://honorscollege.rutgers.edu/scapegoating-and-the-innocent-victim
Bennett, B., PhD. (n.d.). Scapegoating. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/158/Scapegoating
Scapegoating - The Raven Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2017, from https://www.ravenfoundation.org/scapegoating/
[The Authentic Channel]. (2014. Aug. 20th) Why Narcissists Need A Scapegoat
. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0dSwaGkTjY
Peace and Harmony. Putting An End To Toxic Narcissistic Scapegoating (2016 Dec 17)
[Video File].https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDS6_pqiOok
Critical Thinking, Logic, and Argumentation (ReasonIO) (2015 Mar 15). Critical Thinking: The Fallacy of Scapegoating. [Video FIle] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HBYK7ymXBI