The Scapegoat

This is my response to people who think they have figured out who to blame for everything that is wrong with the world. They have the scapegoat!

The truth is that there is no such thing in objective terms. You want to think that there is. Psychologically it may be comforting. But there isn’t.

Perhaps one could say that the enemy is mob psychology unfettered by ethics.

Yes, there are networks of organized criminals. Yes they have distinguishable characteristics. However, you would need a quantum supercomputer with universal data access to say much more than that.

Survivor accounts come preloaded with the answer ready for the taking. It is important to remember however that this is the view from a single person. The most you can get across accounts are patterns.

As difficult as this is for the individual researcher passionate about their work, knowledge inherently comes from many sources and has varying degrees of credibility. We are very, very limited and need to accept that we are always on a learning journey.

I understand that some people have a psychological need to push a conclusion on the world regardless of whether it makes sense to others. That is where I get off the train.

Fact: There is good and bad everywhere you go. There is good and bad among survivors, whistleblowers, journalists and advocates. Not just that some are decent and some have bad motives. Literally, within each person.

Researchers must be wary of making exaggerated statements or misleading conclusions. It is so tempting after all the work we’ve done to want to claim some knowledge. We desire to be right. This leads to wanting to control the narrative.

Don’t do that. It undermines all your efforts. It makes you just like the people you condemn.

By Dr. Dannielle Blumenthal (Dossy). All opinions are the author’s own. Public domain.