Post #1565144
2026-03-29 22:01 UTC
The scapegoat by definition gets to carry too much responsibility - in fact, all the responsibility - for the problem that is making the person upset. By going in and offering myself up as the part of the problem, I often find that I get to learn something. Which is very different from thinking that you're somehow helping the situation by sacrificing yourself (a very different way of identifying with the scapegoat that is strong in the Christian tradition).
Replies (1)
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@malte@radikal.social 2026-03-29 22:03
A lot of people in my culture want to change the world by sacrificing themselves as the scapegoat. It is the strategy of Jesus after all. The unintended effect of that strategy is that, well, you end up identifying with Jesus. Who is also God. So the risk is you get a bit of an inflated self-perception. (Or totally deflated self-perception, which is the other side of the same coin).