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“”But just as a society must have a scapegoat, so hatred must have a symbol. Georgia has the Negro and Harlem has the Jew.

—James Baldwin[1]:53

A scapegoat is a term for someone or something that bears the blame for problems, misfortunes, or the actions of others. Often, scapegoats are forced to take this blame unwillingly and are the targets of irrational hostility as a result.[2]

## Contents

* 1 Uses
* 1.1 Nonhuman
* 2 Derivation
* 3 See also
* 4 External links
* 5 Notes
* 6 References

## Uses[edit]

When searching for some means to publicize one's willingness to screw up a nation, it can be hard work to get people to listen to your (no doubt excellent) ideas and proposals. Why not cut out all that tedious formulating of policies that people might like, and simply find some unpopular minority to take the blame for society's ills?

Jesus' death is the most prominent example of a scapegoat in Western (not excluding Eastern Christianity) ideology.[3] Though a large portion of right-wing Protestants in the United States believe "that's all sissy stuff" and choose to ignore most of the central dogma regarding Jesus as a universal scapegoat.[4][note 1]

If you can't think of a suitable scapegoat, just go with a popular choice: Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, heretics, atheists, communists, feminists, homosexuals, liberals, conservatives, the ruling class, working class, unemployed, welfare recipients, minority races, miscegenation, immigrants, illegal aliens, space aliens, witches, vampires, the Devil, heavy metal, violent movies, violent video games, pornography, the government, the Federal Reserve, etc.

If you lack the confidence to actually sacrifice a goat, try just finding a whipping boy. Similar idea (substitutionary punishment), but you may succeed in prolonging the blaming.

### Nonhuman[edit]

Many cultures employ the use of fictional beings or animals in the position of a "scapegoat". For example, the belief that sins were absolved by animal sacrifice in the temple in ancient Jewish culture is an example of scapegoating. Because the animal bears the responsibility for the sins of the culture's members, members of that culture are better able to forgive minor transgressions that one another have engaged in.[note 2] The belief in demonic possession is a form of scapegoating behavior of a person onto a being that has possessed them rather than the individual themselves. The belief can have both beneficial and negative consequences in such regards as it helps society maintain cohesion by shifting blame, and, hopefully, grudges and disputes, to other beings, fictional or real, but also may cause sincerely bad people to avoid punishment or constraint from further negative actions or behavior.[5][6] They also sometimes cause harm to those whose "possession" is actually due to things like mental illness, as exorcisms have been known to turn violent, or even fatal in some cases.

## Derivation[edit]

It's symbolically your fault!

Like so much that is good and true, it derives from Leviticus:

“”Leviticus 16:8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
Leviticus 16:10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, [and] to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
Leviticus 16:26 And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp.

## See also[edit]

* Stereotype
* McCarthyism
* European witch-hunts
* International Jewish conspiracy
* War on Terror
* Post-truth

## External links[edit]

* WTF?

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ Jesus is arguably a poor example of a scapegoat, anyways, since all he did was take the punishment for humanity's sins, without being blamed for the deeds he was being punished for (except by the Jews and Romans carrying out said punishment); indeed, he has been lionized for his sacrifice in the following years. Usually, a scapegoat is assigned the blame for societal problems (for example, the Jews being [erroneously] assigned responsibility for all manner of fucked-up misdeeds), gets demonized in the process, and becomes widely hated and turns into a punching bag for society as a result.
2. ↑ The aforementioned Jesus-as-ultimate-scapegoat event is simply the logical conclusion of this practice (with the added benefit of removing the requirement for continuous animal abuse).

## References[edit]

1. ↑ "The Harlem Ghetto" in Collected Essays by James Baldwin (1998) Library of America. ISBN 1883011523.
2. ↑ According to Merriam-Webster
3. ↑ "Vicarious Atonement"
4. ↑ Why Evangelicals Hate Jesus, HuffPo
5. ↑ The Scapegoat of Leviticus Sixteen, Dallas Theological Seminary
6. ↑ The Custom of Kapparot in the Jewish Tradition

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Articles about logical fallacies

Informal fallacies: |  Appeal to tradition • Appeal to novelty • Appeal to nature • Argument from morality • Argumentum ad martyrdom • Big words • Certum est quia impossibile est • Morton's fork • Friend argument • Exception that proves the rule • Extended analogy • Hindsight bias • Race card • Moralistic fallacy • Release the data • Gish Gallop • Terrorism-baiting • Uncertainty tactic • Greece-baiting • Ham Hightail • Red-baiting • Gore's Law • Nazi analogies • Mistaking the map for the territory • Red herring • Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur • Presentism • Sunk cost • Two wrongs make a right • Flying carpet fallacy • My enemy's enemy • Appeal to ancient wisdom • Danth's Law • Argumentum ad lunam • Balance fallacy • Golden hammer • Loaded question • Escape to the future • Word magic • Spider-Man fallacy • Sanctioning the devil • Appeal to mystery • Informal fallacy • Common sense • Post-designation • Hyperbole • Relativist fallacy • Due diligence • Straw man • Good old days • Appeal to probability • Infinite regress • Circular reasoning • Media was wrong before • Is–ought problem • Ad iram • Just asking questions • Pink-baiting • Appeal to faith • Appeal to fear • Appeal to bias • Appeal to confidence • Appeal to consequences • Appeal to emotion • Appeal to flattery • Appeal to gravity • Appeal to hate • Argument from omniscience • Argument from silence • Argumentum ad baculum • Argumentum ad fastidium • Association fallacy • Broken window fallacy • Category mistake • Confounding factor • Counterfactual fallacy • Courtier's Reply • Damning with faint praise • Definitional fallacies • Equivocation • Fallacy of accent • Fallacy of accident • Fallacy of amphiboly • Gambler's fallacy • Imprecision fallacy • Moving the goalposts • Nirvana fallacy • Overprecision • Pathos gambit • Pragmatic fallacy • Quote mining • Argumentum ad sarcina inserta • Science doesn't know everything • Slothful induction • Spotlight fallacy • Style over substance • Toupee fallacy • Genuine but insignificant cause • Argument from incredulity • Appeal to age • Argumentum ad nauseam • Phantom distinction • Appeal to common sense • Argumentum ad hysteria • Omnipotence paradox • Argument from etymology • Appeal to trauma • Countless counterfeits fallacy •
| Ad hoc: |  No True Scotsman • Moving the goalposts • Escape hatch • Handwave • Special pleading • Slothful induction • Nirvana fallacy • God of the gaps • PIDOOMA • Ad hoc • Tone argument •
| Arguments from ignorance: |  Science doesn't know everything • Argument from incredulity • Argument from silence • Toupee fallacy • Appeal to censorship • Science was wrong before • Holmesian fallacy • Argument from omniscience • Willful ignorance • Argument from ignorance •
| Causation fallacies: |  Post hoc, ergo propter hoc • Correlation does not imply causation • Wrong direction • Counterfactual fallacy • Regression fallacy • Gambler's fallacy • Denying the antecedent • Genuine but insignificant cause •
| Circular reasoning: |  Infinite regress • Argument by assertion • Argumentum ad dictionarium • Appeal to faith • Circular reasoning • Self-refuting idea •
| Emotional appeals: |  Appeal to fear • Appeal to emotion • Appeal to confidence • Deepity • Argumentum ad baculum • Appeal to shame • Appeal to flattery • Tone argument • Appeal to money • Argumentum ad fastidium • Appeal to gravity • Appeal to consequences • Loaded language • Style over substance • Appeal to pity • Appeal to hate • Pathos gambit • Shaming • Degenerate • Abomination •
| Fallacies of ambiguity: |  Fallacy of accent • Equivocation • Fallacy of amphiboly • Quote mining • Fallacy of ambiguity • Moral equivalence • Scope fallacy • Suppressed correlative • Not as bad as • Etymology • Continuum fallacy • Wronger than wrong • Definitional fallacies • Code word • Phantom distinction •
Formal fallacies: |  Confusion of the inverse • Denying the antecedent • Non sequitur • Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise • Not even wrong • Chewbacca Defense • Affirming a disjunct • Illicit process • Four-term fallacy • Negative conclusion from affirmative premises • Fallacy fallacy • Substituting explanation for premise • Enthymeme • Syllogism • Formal fallacy • Existential assumption • Masked man fallacy • Self-refuting idea • Argument by gibberish • One single proof • Affirming the consequent • False dilemma • Conjunction fallacy •
Fallacious arguments: |  Bumblebee argument • Fatwa envy • Gotcha argument • Hoyle's fallacy • Intuition pump • Logic and Creation • Not Circular Reasoning • Peanut butter argument • Great Beethoven fallacy • Fallacy of unique founding conditions • Evil is the absence of God • Argument from first cause • How do you know? Were you there? • Argument from design • Argument from beauty • Appeal to nature • Solferino fallacy • Religious scientists • Nothing to hide • Argument from fine tuning • Creep shaming • "I used to be an atheist" • Atheism as a religion • Argumentum ad populum • Argument from morality • Anti-environmentalism • Appeal to bias • Apophasis • Argumentum ad nauseam • Appeal to censorship • Argumentum ad sarcina inserta • Blaming the victim • Bait-and-switch • Danth's Law • Chewbacca Defense • Canard • DARVO • Demonization • Escape hatch • Friend argument • Everyone is racist • Gish Gallop • Greece-baiting • Gore's Law • Ham Hightail • Just asking questions • Leading question • Loaded language • Linking to authority • Loaded question • Lying by omission • Motte and bailey • Nazi analogies • Moving the goalposts • One single proof • Pink-baiting • One-way hash argument • Pathos gambit • Quote mining • Poisoning the well • Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur • Race card • Red-baiting • Red herring • Release the data • Science was wrong before • Shill gambit • Straw man • Silent Majority • Uncertainty tactic • Style over substance • Terrorism-baiting • Weasel word • What's the harm (logical fallacy) • Whataboutism • Bullshit • Logical fallacy • Banana argument • How come there are still monkeys? • Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white • Ontological argument • Omnipotence paradox • Presuppositionalism • Just a joke • Countless counterfeits fallacy •
Conditional fallacies: |  Slippery slope • What's the harm (logical fallacy) • Special pleading • Conditional fallacy • On the spot fallacy • Appeal to the minority • Argumentum ad populum • Galileo gambit • Professor of nothing •
| Genetic fallacies: |  Genetic fallacy •
|  | Appeals to authority: |  Ipse dixit • Appeal to confidence • Argumentum ad populum • Argument from authority • Linking to authority • Silent Majority • Invincible authority • Appeal to celebrity • Ultracrepidarianism • Appeal to the minority • Galileo gambit • Appeal to identity • Weasel word • Professor of nothing • Euthyphro dilemma • Divine command theory •
|  | Ad hominem: |  Ad iram • Argumentum ad cellarium • Bulverism • Poisoning the well • Blaming the victim • Tu quoque • Whataboutism • Nutpicking • Jonanism • Demonization • Shill gambit • Appeal to bias • Fallacy of opposition • Association fallacy • Damning with faint praise • Pathos gambit • Appeal to identity • Argumentum ad hominem • Nazi analogies • Not an argument • Nothing to hide • 地下室论证 •
| Imprecision fallacies: |  Apex fallacy • Overprecision • Cherry picking • Overgeneralization • Texas sharpshooter fallacy • False analogy • Appeal to fiction • Spotlight fallacy • Pragmatic fallacy • Selection bias • Anecdotal evidence • Category mistake • Nutpicking • Imprecision fallacy • Confounding factor • Fallacy of accident • Neyman's bias •
Valid logical methods: |  Rapoport's Rules • Negative evidence • Reductio ad absurdum •
Fallacy collections: |  SeekFind • Nizkor Project • Fallacy Files • Your Logical Fallacy Is • Logically Fallacious •