SHANNON KELLY
Perspectives Editor
People who refuse to take responsibility for their own failures when their intellectual or moral shortcomings prevent rational solutions to problems with which they are faced, rely on scapegoats to bare the burden.
The term scapegoat stems from the name given to the goat that was sent away into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement after the priest placed Israel’s guilt upon it. For thousands of years, the Jews have been scapegoated in the form of worldwide Anti-Semitism. Those sentiments continue to plague them.
Mel Gibson brought the problem unbearably close to home, when he reportedly blamed all the world’s wars on the Jews and then proceeded to tell the arresting officer “you must be a Jew.” Granted, Gibson’s DUI charge proves he was of unsound mind (make that belligerent) while cruising Pacific Coast Highway and later hawking the gross remarks (it seems even stardom doesn’t thwart the affects of tequila). Regardless, his comments permanently and deservedly branded him an Anti-Semite. The media furry that followed reminded people of the enduring, yet commonly forgotten intolerance and injustice suffered by the Jews. Even if Gibson was too drunk to understand the real causes of international conflicts and turmoil, making Jewish people the scapegoat for his ignorance is inexcusable.
For many Americans, and especially college students, Gibson’s prejudice might be the most recognizable example of anti-Semitism in today’s world. But in August alone, countless incidents from synagogue vandalism to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez comparing Israel to Hitler and other leaders calling for their demise prove its persistence. As the world becomes more concerned with the latest Middle-East mayhem, we have begun to understand that there are people from every end of the globe who are contributing to anti-Semitism’s stronghold. Some do so on a level similar to Gibson, whose internal dialogue might fall somewhere in the realm of “I’m having trouble grasping the real causes of some of the world’s problems and I’d rather not take the time to pick up a newspaper, watch the news, or face facts at all, so I’m just going to go ahead and blame the Jews.”
While disturbing and irresponsible, this type of anti-Semitic scapegoating is less threatening than the anti-Semitism that exists among those with much more power than a Hollywood millionaire. They scapegoat on an incredibly serious and potentially devastating level, using Jews as tools for their own “cause.” Terrorists, dictators and other dangerous regimes are master propagandists who lie to their followers in order to propel hatred toward one common enemy and expand their rule. Hitler instituted the same tactic and used deep-rooted anti-Semitism to convince people that killing millions of Jews was justifiable. Five years ago, al-Qaeda’s members were misinformed, manipulated and made to hate the United States enough to achieve the greatest devastation the country had ever endured.
Undeservedly blaming common enemies for their own disparities are terrorists’ and dictators’ proven prototypes. On Aug. 4th, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad addressed the Organization of Islamic States and called for isolating Israel the “Zionist Entity” and its allies, given that annihilating the Israelis was the only solution to the problems in the Middle East. Fanatics who hate democratic nations like Israel and the United States know that sustaining power requires external enemies and they will continue their terror tactics as long as the world allows.
Iran, Syria and many of the world’s dictatorships support Hezbollah because those regimes have established Jews as their common enemy. By disapproving of Israel’s course, western democratic nations could be helping anti-Semitic dictatorial regimes more than the free nations of Israel and the United States. While not directly anti-semitic, this is equally as dangerous and ignores the real problems in the Middle East. Both irrational mistakes demonstrate the several levels of scapegoating and its dangerous capacity to permit people to ignore the real problems. Scapegoating allows the people who really deserve the blame to get away with murder (literally).
8-28-2006