The scapegoat was a goat that was driven off into the wilderness as part of the ceremonies of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in Judaism during the times of the Temple in Jerusalem. The rite is described in Leviticus 16.

The Scapegoat by William Holman Hunt. Hunt had this framed in a picture with the quotations "Surely he hath borne our Griefs, and carried our Sorrows; Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of GOD, and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:4) and "And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a Land not inhabited." (Leviticus 16:22)

In the Hebrew Bible

Two male goats were to be brought to the place of sacrifice along with a bull as part of the Korbanot ("sacrifices") in the Temple in Jerusalem. The high priest then cast lots for the two goats. One goat was offered as a burnt offering, as was the bull. The second goat was the scapegoat. The high priest placed his hands on the head of the goat and confessed the sins of the people of Israel. The goat was then led away into the wilderness, bearing the sins of the people with it, to be claimed by the fallen angel Azazel.

Christian view

In Christian theology, the story of the scapegoat in Leviticus is interpreted as a symbolic prefiguation of the self-sacrifice of Jesus, who takes the sins of humanity on his own head, having been driven into the 'wilderness' outside the city by order of the high priests.

Scapegoating

Figuratively, a scapegoat is someone selected arbitrarily to bear blame for a calamity. Scapegoating is the act of irrationally holding a person, group of people, or thing responsible for a multitude of problems.

Scapegoating is an important tool of propaganda; for example, the Jews were singled out in Nazi propaganda as the source of Germany's economic woes and political collapse .

Scapegoating is often more devastating when applied to a minority group as they are, by definition, in the minority; thus they find it difficult to defend themselves. A tactic often employed is to characterize an entire group of individuals according to the unethical or immoral conduct of a small number of individuals belonging to the group.

"Scapegoated" groups throughout history have included blacks, immigrants, the Irish, Communists, capitalists, "witches", women, the poor, Jews, lepers, gays, the disabled and gypsies.

In industrialized societies, scapegoating of traditional minority groups is increasingly frowned upon. In the extreme, this may result in socially-enforced rules regarding speech, as in political correctness.

Scapegoating may be applied to organizations. For example, corporations or governments are seen by some as responsible for an exaggerated multitude of social problems. Political correctness may be a contributing factor in the development of such beliefs regarding corporations, particularly where a highly developed sense of tolerance towards traditional minority groups clashes with a continued (and some would say unjustified) need to lay blame.

Compare: moral panic; hue and cry; witchhunt

Scapegoating in sports

In sports, scapegoats are common. In baseball, Bill Buckner is blamed for losing the 1986 World Series due to a critical error. In American football, Scott Norwood is blamed for losing the Super Bowl for the Buffalo Bills during Super Bowl XXV by missing a key field goal. Andrés Escobar, a football player in South America was killed after he scored a goal on his own team during the 1994 World Cup.

External link

• 'The Scapegoat' (1854) (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/pre-raphaelites/scapegoat/scapegoat.asp), William Holman Hunt