Examples of Scapegoating in History, what is a modern example of scapegoating?
The Jews were not the only group of people who were used as scapegoats to further the cause of ruthless people. Throughout history, a myriad of people have been wrongly persecuted for belonging to a specific social group.
One example of scapegoating is seen in the infamous "Sacco and Vanzetti" trail in which Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested outside Boston in 1920 and charged with robbing and killing a shoe factory paymaster and his guard. After WW1, America suffered a great loss in business production, unemployment levels rose, and the 4.5 million returning soldiers needed jobs. The nation suffered a plague of strikes by wage-earners seeking higher salaries, and an easy target upon which to blame the ills of society were radical communists and foreigners such as Sacco and Vanzetti who were believed to have taken many American jobs. Though a prosecutor insisted they would be tried for murder and "nothing else," their radical politics remained a focus of the 1921 trial.
Secondly, during the Middle Ages, the sanctity of the Catholic Church was undermined by corrupt and greedy leaders. Members of the clergy, from the pope down to the parish priest, conducted themselves with ruthless abandon, having total disregard for civil and religious laws, and led vile and amoral lives. Yet any person who dared speak up to question or expose the corruption within the church would be brought up on charges of heresy by a court established by the church known as The Inquisition. Under the Inquisition, the church effectively suppressed any dissent or rebellion by executing or burning thousands of good, moralistic church members who were making an attempt to correct the wrongdoing within their faith. The Inquisition was most active in Spain under Tomas de Torquemada, who sometimes gained "confessions" through torture. It is estimated that tens of thousands of reform-minded people were put to death in this manner. These people were convicted of
One example of scapegoating is seen in the infamous "Sacco and Vanzetti" trail in which Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested outside Boston in 1920 and charged with robbing and killing a shoe factory paymaster and his guard. After WW1, America suffered a great loss in business production, unemployment levels rose, and the 4.5 million returning soldiers needed jobs. The nation suffered a plague of strikes by wage-earners seeking higher salaries, and an easy target upon which to blame the ills of society were radical communists and foreigners such as Sacco and Vanzetti who were believed to have taken many American jobs. Though a prosecutor insisted they would be tried for murder and "nothing else," their radical politics remained a focus of the 1921 trial.
Secondly, during the Middle Ages, the sanctity of the Catholic Church was undermined by corrupt and greedy leaders. Members of the clergy, from the pope down to the parish priest, conducted themselves with ruthless abandon, having total disregard for civil and religious laws, and led vile and amoral lives. Yet any person who dared speak up to question or expose the corruption within the church would be brought up on charges of heresy by a court established by the church known as The Inquisition. Under the Inquisition, the church effectively suppressed any dissent or rebellion by executing or burning thousands of good, moralistic church members who were making an attempt to correct the wrongdoing within their faith. The Inquisition was most active in Spain under Tomas de Torquemada, who sometimes gained "confessions" through torture. It is estimated that tens of thousands of reform-minded people were put to death in this manner. These people were convicted of