May 2nd, 2017
SPECIAL FEATURE
Scapegoat Mechanism in the States By Emily Williams, Staff Reporter
The Western world has experienced a turbulent political climate over the last two years, resulting in a polarization of countries, the rise of “fake news”, and ultimately, the election of Donald Trump in the U.S., and the decision for Britain to leave the European Union. So we’re going to talk about this little thing called ‘scapegoat mechanism’ and identify what part it played in allowing Western leaders to blame immigrants for problems in their respective countries in order to further their political agendas. Now don’t get me wrong. The liberals of the Western world have participated in scapegoat mechanism as well, but as someone that’s currently living abroad, the demonization of immigrants has been wearing on me a little. Scapegoating happens when a community is facing adversity and they lash out and blame an innocent group within that community, in order to form a common enemy and band together against them. While this succeeds in uniting the majority, this sets up a culture of mistreating the scapegoat. While it may seem dramatic, this is how something like the Holocaust can happen. While on a tour of Amsterdam today, we stopped outside of the Anne Frank Haus, and our tour guide took the time to point out that the current political climate of countries across the world have made it where someone else is always blamed for the misfortune the country is encountering…and I agree. This is a dangerous practice that has issuu.com/TheReveille
no outcome but pain for minorities who are already struggling. Politicians like Donald Trump and the Tories in England have spread blatant lies about immigrants and fear-mongered people into buying into their political agendas because of it. The majority of Donald Trump’s statistics on immigration come from the organization the Center for Immigration Studies. While the CIS identifies itself as a non-partisan think tank that hosts a board of university professors and civil rights activists, the media bias and fact check websites I consulted to test its credibility identified it at best a “questionable source” and at worst, a “hate group”. This is not an “alternative fact” and it’s not “fake news” either. This is the truth, and it’s unacceptable. But what can we do to end this process? Be the good scholars we are. Don’t believe everything you read on Facebook. Understand that just because a source has an official sounding name doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its own agenda. Realize that it’s our right and our privilege to hold our elected officials responsible and honest, whether we agree with our politics or not. And always always remember that we must speak up for those that have a voice. As a wise Pokémon once told me, “I see now that the circumstances of ones birth are irrelevant; it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.”