How to NOT be Scapegoated
A practical explanation of René Girard's Mimetic Theory
Johnathan Bi has an excellent YouTube post about how NOT to be scapegoated, based on René Girard's Mimetic Theory. Bi describes how fickle the crowd is and uses the example of Lebron James’ son, Bronny, to show how quickly the crowd’s mood can change — Bronny faced widespread criticism when he entered the league but since then the crowd has turned on Bronny’s critics.
It is important for the crowd to choose an insider-outsider because the scapegoating mechanism is searching for catharsis. A true insider is not a satisfying a catharsis and the process risks turning back on the accusers.
Marie Antoinette (an Austrian) was a good scapegoat for the French Revolution because she was a foreigner within French society (an “immigrant)”. If she had remained living in Austria her whole life, she would be too remote to be a plausible target. But the fact that Antoinette was a foreigner within the royal family made her a good target of the crowd because she had an aura of “difference.”
More Information: René Girard’s Scapegoat
Society is Founded on a Lie | Girard’s Scapegoat Explained
How Pagan Gods are made / Reciprical violence lies at the heard of all societies