Scapegoat

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.According to Merriam-Webster
==Uses==
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."Vicarious Atonement" 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.Why Evangelicals Hate Jesus, HuffPoJesus 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.
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 Similar idea (substitutionary punishment), but you may succeed in prolonging the blaming. 
===Nonhuman===
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 minor transgressions that one another have engaged in.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). 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, 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.The Scapegoat of Leviticus Sixteen, Dallas Theological Seminary
The Custom of Kapparot in the Jewish Tradition They also sometimes cause harm to those whose "possession" is actually due to things like as exorcisms have been known to turn violent, or even fatal in some cases.
==Derivation==
Like so much that is good and true, it derives from Leviticus:
==See also==
*Stereotype
*McCarthyism
*European witch-hunts
*International Jewish conspiracy
*War on Terror
*Post-truth
==External links==
*WTF?
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Authoritarianism
Category:Culture
Category:Fallacious arguments
Category:Goats
Category:Political terms
Category:Ad hominem
Category:Totalitarianism