Scapegoating: The New Pastime?

I wish I knew enough about history to find the origins of scapegoating. The term itself may have something to do with the story of Abraham and God's demands for him to sacrifice his son as a sign of his devotion. In his son's place, a goat appeared. Perhaps, this was the first scapegoat?

To those unfamiliar with the term, it describes the object of blame when things go wrong, in which case, the object in question is not the actual perpetrator of the said wrong-doing, but more often than not, a convenient place to set blame upon due to either ignorance or obliviousness of the said object.

Scapegoating in the corporate world happens all the time. New bosses may wish to appoint scapegoat managers 'just-in-case'. The trick to scapegoating at work is that you can only use them once. Use and prepare to immediately jettison. Attempts to use a scapegoat more than once will cause blame to shift closer to the source, if not the source itself. For those who plan to screw up, be prepared to surround yourself with enough scapegoats to cover your tenure.

Scapegoating in interpersonal relationships can happen easily when one is backed into a corner. A meek child, when cornered by a parent with evidence in tow, may resort to finger-pointing to another sibling, a schoolmate or an imaginary friend. If it works once, the child may find this object of blame a convenience place to continuously point his finger at, at which point, this object can officially be deemed as a 'scapegoat'.

How to avoid being made a scapegoat? I guess it has to start by being highly alert to our surroundings, and to question behaviours and events that do not make sense. If someone dislikes you too much, or seems to have made one too many assumptions, you may have already fallen victim to 'scapegoatisation'.

What do you do when you suspect that you have been made a scapegoat? Confront your suspect. Make sure that you hold your ground and shame them into submission. Of course, you may also come across as being paranoid, but at least you have the peace of mind that you have spoken your mind. :P

Posted by Najah Nasseri at 2003年06月10日 02:29