Them Scapegoats!

It’s a pretty easy thing to blame your problems on some one else. After all, who wants to think that they’re responsible for all their own problems? The shear amount of work implied by that, if it were true, feels like a mountain crushing down on even the strongest mind. But blaming others can go some to some pretty dark places, especially if we do it as a group. This is a growing problem as our country and world becomes more polarized. Different groups get blamed for hurting the economy, taking jobs, spreading disease, starting wars, polluting, increasing crime, and fomenting social unrest.

On SparkQuest there have been two mysterious fires that have destroyed two buildings: the Empire State Building and the Performing Arts Center. The New City Police have dispatched a special task force lead by Section 6, the elite investigative squad focused on crimes against the state. Their mere involvement is a hint that the People’s Council suspects subversive elements to be involved. This mirrors what happened in the The New York Plot Trail (of 1741). They may even have a couple of scapegoats in mind.

The term scapegoating comes from an ancient Hebrew practice:

Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.

 Leviticus 16:21–22 NRSV

This goat that “escapes” is called the “scapegoat“. It was actually one of two goats chosen. The other one didn’t get to get away.

Let’s do a Research Roundup of examples of scapegoating in history. Think about times you know where people groups were blamed for things in history — often without actually having anything to do with the accusations.

Once we get this rounded up, we’ll use our research to develop the story stub Insurrection by the Usual Suspects.

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Feature Image: “The Scapegoat” (1854) by William Holman Hunt.