Genocide perpetrators justify mass murder by blaming victims for ingroup misfortunes

Evidence

A decade before Allport wrote The Nature of Prejudice, the Nazis had attempted to exterminate Europe’s Jews, whom they blamed for Germany’s woes. A decade before this chapter was written, hundreds of thousands of Tutsi were murdered by Hutu neighbors, who blamed the Tutsi for Rwanda’s economic and social problems. Both are examples of scapegoating, here defined as an extreme form of prejudice in which an outgroup is unfairly blamed for having intentionally caused an ingroup’s misfortunes. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1558 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Belief in a transnational Tutsi extermination conspiracy was manufactured to justify Hutu massacres — Erin K. Jenne and Promise Frank Ejiofor, Ethnopopulism and genocidal…, 76; Inferiority alone cannot justify genocide; danger claims are required — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 2160; Perpetrators excuse harm by displacing blame and dehumanizing victims (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Genocidal killing sprees are driven by blaming an outgroup for one’s own misfortunes. #corroborates (0.93) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1558