Quotes About Scapegoating

But the problem is that the fundamental structure of scapegoating is not broken in the acceptance of the latest "other." If the underlying scapegoat mechanism is not decommissioned, then new "others" will always arise to protect the group from its own internal conflicts. For

It is always tempting when you have political discontent in your own country to say it is the fault of some other country and not of your own government.

It is always tempting to believe that a bad system is the fault of one bad man.

Neofascism in the United States takes the form of big money, big banks, big corporations, tied to xenophobic scapegoating of the vulnerable, like Mexicans and Muslims and women and black folk, and militaristic policies abroad, with strongman, charismatic, autocratic personality, and that's what Donald Trump is.

The search for someone to blame is always successful.

Authoritarians have always been here. But the features of a given moment make that way of thinking more or less appealing. Germany in the 1920s, when people are starving, suddenly makes 'populist' answers and scapegoating different groups as the source of the problem much more appealing.

Octavo, aunque Trump y los nativistas de todo el mundo busquen culpar a otros —los inmigrantes y los malos acuerdos comerciales—

Everyone loves a witch hunt as long as it's someone else's witch being hunted.

Today, the word "refugee" is used in a horrible way. It's something either to be pitied or blamed for everything. Overpopulation? It's the refugees. Rents going up? It's the refugees. Crime? It's the refugees. If you label people refugees, they remain refugees for the rest of their lives.

Cuando un grupo político decide tomar el poder ¿qué es lo que hace? En primer lugar, elige a sus enemigos, a la gente «diferente», judíos, gitanos, homosexuales, ateos, comunistas, anarquistas... Es una antigua regla: «¡Dadme un enemigo y moveré el mundo! ¡Permanezcamos unidos, permanezcamos juntos y destruyamos a esta escoria! ¡Llenemos las cárceles con estos infames, Dios está con nosotros!».

But — and here is the crucial point — it was difficult to rebut that anti-gay slur [i.e., that the abuse crisis in the Catholic church is about pedophilia by gay priests] for the scapegoating it was, precisely because of that cloak of denial around the Church's broader sexual dishonesty. Gay priests, too, were forced to live a lie.

You have to conclude that your country has run amuck, that the people responsible are insane, that you can not trust your leaders, your President, your general, your parents, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, your police, your town, your state, your country, anymore because it is liable to turn upon you for no reason at all, except that for its own security it needs a scapegoat, any scapegoat including you, and there is no appeal possible.

When one is undone—sprawled across the cold tile of a public bathroom in a pool of one's own vomit, or shivering in the back of a taxi in a pair of urine-soaked skinny jeans with no money for cab fare and a dead cell phone battery—much like a wobbly toddler or an unhinged politician, one immediately looks for someone else to blame. God. Your parents. Ex-girlfriends. Undocumented immigrants. Marvin in Human Resources. China.

The problem is not that the U.S. economy won't be able to take care of its citizens - it is that taking away benefits, creating intergenerational warfare, and scapegoating will make for very difficult and bad politics. This is a tragedy that we can see coming. Early action would be relatively painless.

Austerity and economic insecurity have collided with the scapegoating of migrants and refugees, at a time when global instability and warfare have driven millions to flee violence and persecution, a minority of whom have arrived on European shores to be met with hostility.

they will naturally focus only on dealing with a few scapegoats, not just because the system is harder to change, but also because if politicians traced the fault lines, they would find a few running through themselves.

Politicians today vow, "Never again!" But they will naturally focus only on dealing with a few scapegoats, not just because the system is harder to change, but also because if politicians traced the fault lines, they would find a few running through themselves.

The reason is that the race-hater is inwardly a man who hates himself. He finds it necessary to shift to others his own unconscious feelings of guilt. Hence he chooses as his victim a member of a minority group who is less able to defend himself than the average person. To his victim he unconsciously shifts his own shortcomings

Always, when things don't go the way that everyone expects, people - the supporters as well - always look for someone to blame. In some cases, they blame the players.

Once, we were talking about public reaction to some political scandal, and I suggested that it was normal for people to need someone to blame. 'Normal doesn't mean it's a good idea,' she answered.

We want to blame an individual so that everyone else is exculpated. Or we blame a historical process as a way of exonerating individuals.

The blame generally has to fall somewhere, Miss Armstrong. Women and the Jews tend to be first in line, unfortunately.

Always blame conditions, not men

Scapegoating will go on forever. We need someone to blame - illegal immigrants, single moms, people in prison. We need someone to victimize.