And as in countless other countries (Uganda, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria), LGBT people are a convenient scapegoat. In both Jewish and Christian scripture, God ordained a special day when the entire nation of Israel would put work aside and priests would expire the sin of the entire nation. Among the prescribed rituals was the scapegoat: both mechanisms, according to Freud, protect people from their illicit desires or fears by helping them reject the idea that they harbor unacceptable feelings toward authority. The purpose of their expulsion can become a scapegoat (Hammer, 2007). On Yom Kippur, the ancient Hebrews sacrificed one goat for the Lord and led another into the wilderness, bearing the sins of the people. The ceremony is described in Leviticus, where it is said that one spell is to be cast for the Lord and another for “Azazel.” Modern scholars generally interpret Azazel as the name of a demon living in the wilderness, but ancient Bible translators thought Azazel referred to the goat itself, apparently confusing it with the Hebrew phrase ez ozel, which means “walking goat.” The mistranslation was translated into Greek and Latin in a 16th century English translation rendering the word for the goat as a scapegoat; That is to say: “Goat that escapes”. The expanded scapegoat meanings we use today evolved from this biblical usage. If a politician is caught lying, he or she could use an assistant as a scapegoat. One way or another, the lie will be the fault of the assistant. Your mother might tell you to use it as a scapegoat if you have to.
So if your friends want you to go to a wild party and you don`t want to, you should tell them that your mom won`t let you. That way, they will be angry with them and not with you. A scapegoat is similar to a scapegoat, but it is mostly used when your plan has been determined and one of your schemers has to deal with the consequences. It is often said that scapegoating people experience persistent economic insecurity and share common beliefs that can lead to prejudice and violence. They vouch for Shadman and say he is the scapegoat for a shabby investigation. The search for scapegoats is somehow consistent with Sigmund Freud`s ideas about repression or projection as defense mechanisms (Hammer, 2007). Durkheim believed that the most common picapular event in social life is death and that someone or something should be blamed or scapegoated for every death. Some scholars have argued that the scapegoat ritual dates back to Ebla around 2400 BC. A.D., from where it spread throughout the ancient Middle East.
[1] [2] Perhaps the most egregious and tragic example of scapegoating in modern history is the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler notoriously scapegoated Jews for the suffering of Germans after World War I. Once a year on Yom Kippur, the Cohen Gadol sacrificed a bull as a sin offering to atone for the sins he had unwittingly committed throughout the year. He then took two goats and presented them at the door of the tabernacle. Two goats were chosen by lot: one as “for YHWH” offered as a blood sacrifice, and the other as a scapegoat sent into the wild and pushed into a steep ravine where she died. [12] The blood of the slain goat was taken behind the sacred veil in the Holy of Holies and exploded on the mercy seat, the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. Later in the day`s ceremonies, the high priest confessed the Israelites` intentional sins to God by figuratively placing them on the head of the other goat, Azazel`s scapegoat, who would “symbolically abduct” them. More recently, sociologists have used the idea of repressed aggression to describe the tendency to scapegoat. For example, a woman who just got into an argument with her boyfriend may kick her dog for minor misconduct when she gets home. The first English Christian versions of the Bible follow the translation of the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, which azazel interprets as “the walking goat” (Greek tragos apopompaios, “goat sent”, Latin caper emissarius, “missed goat”).
William Tyndale rendered Latin in his 1530 Bible as a “goat (e)scape”. This translation was followed by other versions until the King James Version of the Bible in 1611: “And Aaron shall draw lots on the two goats; one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. [8] Some modern versions, however, leave it either as an Azazel proper name or as a footnote “for Azazel” as an alternative reading. However, there is a dichotomy between individuals used as scapegoats in mythical stories and those used in actual rituals. In mythical tales, it was emphasized that someone of great importance had to be sacrificed if the whole society was to benefit from aversion to disaster (usually a king or the king`s children). [16] [17] However, since no king or important person would be willing to sacrifice himself or his children, the scapegoat in the actual rituals would be someone from lower society who would receive value through special treatment such as fine clothes and food before the sacrificial ceremony. [16] Britannica.com: The encyclopedia article on the scapegoat Fauconnet (1920) expanded on Durkheim`s insight by saying that historically, animals and inanimate objects, as well as individuals and groups, were blamed, condemned, and punished for atoning for death. For example, animals and insects were killed and driven out of European countries as scapegoats for plague and other misfortunes.
Practices with some similarities to the scapegoat ritual also appear in ancient Greece and Ebla. The researchers established certain conditions under which scapegoats are more likely to be directed at a particular group. Often, the group of scapegoats tends to have less power than the group that becomes the scapegoat, otherwise the scapegoats would be able to eradicate the opposition of those they accuse.