Constant Scapegoating

Throughout history, minorities have often become scapegoats for all kinds of problems. Even though many people realize that the use of scapegoats is inhumane and unjust, why do humans still scapegoat today?

In the chapter called Disease and the Growing World Population in our history text book, the reading explains that during the times of the Bubonic plague, people felt the need to blame their misfortunes on someone.  In Europe, one of the minorities at the time were the Jews.  It became the Jew's fault that this disease was spreading. People said that Jews poisoned peoples' water and gave them the Bubonic plague. 

The scapegoating of Jews was something that had been around for a very long time.  The Jews were considered at fault for the unfortunate events that took place was when Judas, who people believed to be Jewish, gave Jesus up to the Romans.  During the middle ages, the Christians continued to blame the Jews for many of society’s worst problems, including the Bubonic Plague.

It is concerning to me that even though that people see that scapegoating minorities in the past was unfair, individuals continue to do it today, even if subconsciously.

A few weeks ago, a group of actors came to our school to perform a mock trial.  The reason for the trial in their performance was because a rich white man accused a poor black woman of stealing his watch without any solid evidence that it was actually her who had taken it.  The woman then accused the man of believing it was her just because she was black.  The man then called the woman’s boss and told her that he thought that the black woman had stolen his watch. Because of this accusation, the woman lost her job.  The woman came to court to sue the man for liable.  I found this scene extremely thought-provoking because it underlined a major issue in our society today.  People continue to have stereotypes about racial, ethnic, and religious groups.  These stereotypes develop and are allowed to persist because people who are different from the majority are often seen as scary or threatening.   It is also convenient to find a scapegoat for a problem that is hard to deal with or solve completely.

Even though many people realize that it is unfair to use minorities as scapegoats or to even scapegoat anyone at all, it is still purposefully and subconsciously done today.  Without substantial evidence of who is to blame for a disastrous event occurring, it is unjust to blame a misfortune on a scapegoat.