Scapegoat theories collapse when they must justify the specific victim

Evidence

The theory that the Jews are always the scapegoat implies that the scapegoat might have been anyone else as-well. It upholds the perfect innocence of the victim, an innocence which insinuates not only that no evil was done but that nothing at all was done which might possibly have a connection with the issue at stake. It is true that the scapegoat theory in its purely arbitrary form never appears in print. Whenever, however, its adherents painstakingly try to explain why a specific scapegoat was so well suited to his role, they show that they have left the theory behind them and have got themselves involved in the usual historical research—where nothing is ever discovered except that history is made by many groups and that for certain reasons one group was singled out. The so-called scapegoat necessarily ceases to be the innocent victim whom the world blames for all its sins and through whom it wishes to escape punishment; it becomes one group of people among other groups, all of which are involved in the business of this world. And it does not simply cease to be coresponsible because it became the victim of the world’s injustice and cruelty. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 68

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the ‘scapegoat theory’ concept and its internal inconsistency — the moment of choosing a specific victim locates it within real history.
• DEEPTHINKING: The paradox that explaining a scapegoat’s fit for his role dissolves the theory — a definitional move worth sitting with.
• XREF: connects to: Blaming personal profligacy for the crisis presumes understanding individuals were denied — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 352