Scapegoating: Billy Mitchell

SCAPEGOATING – THE ANCIENT ART OF SHIFTING BLAME

In Old Testament times the itinerant Hebrew nation had a novel way of cleansing itself of any guilt arising from social sins. The religious leaders laid hands on a goat and ceremoniously transferred the guilt of the people to the goat, which was then driven outside the camp of Israel into the wilderness. From this ancient ritual we have developed the practice of scapegoating.
When something goes wrong in society and it is perceived that this is due to corporate wrongdoing we look for a scapegoat. We usually pick on the eccentric, the minorities and the unlovable. Someone has to bear the guilt for society.s ills so that the rest of us can rest easy in our own sense of self-righteous well being.
In Northern Ireland we have ready made scapegoats in the paramilitaries. Like every other part of the United Kingdom and Ireland we have a problem with drugs. But it is not our fault. The paramilitaries are to blame. We still have the most ancient trade in the world – prostitution – but it is not really society’s fault. It is all down to the paramilitaries. We are plagued by anti-social behaviour, petty crime and organised crime – just like many other cities. But in Belfast it is not our fault. If it wasn’t for those damned paramilitaries Northern Ireland would be a great wee place to live in. At least that appears to be the analysis of politicians, clergy and other civic leaders.
Let me make it quite clear. I am not an advocate for para- militarism, nor am I about to suggest that they are paragons of virtue. I used to be one myself and am not blind to what goes on within paramilitary circles. At the same time I refuse to make them the scapegoats for society’s ills.
Like many of my former comrades I have moved on. But I have not moved away from those who remained nor turned my back on the new generation that came after me. Because I know that there is a better, less violent and more democratic way in which to resolve Northern Ireland’s problems I have a duty to work with others of a like mind alongside my former organisation in the hope that we can be an influence for change. I believe that we are being successful.
One would have thought that the slow but steady move towards politics and the steady reduction in violence would have been welcomed by so-called constitutional politicians and church leaders. But not so. Raise the issue of drugs, rackets, prostitution and other forms of criminal activity and my former organisation is automatically blamed (along with others). No evidence is ever produced. No names are ever linked to specific criminal acts. Nothing tangible is ever presented. Yet the organisation as a whole is painted with broad black brush strokes. The ritual of scapegoating does not require evidence, it just requires a prejudiced mind and a willing press.
Scapegoating is as pernicious an evil as any of the sins that are ceremoniously heaped on the heads of our vicarious victim. It is first of all an exercise in self-righteousness. As a society we can cleanse ourselves of all guilt for our social ills. So long as we can point to the scapegoat we have no need to look at ourselves.

Secondly, it is an exercise in social exclusion and marginalisation. Just as the scapegoat was driven outside the camp into the wilderness so we attempt to drive our scapegoats outside the parameters of respectable society into the margins of a supposed mafia sub-culture. We demonise, vilify and marginalise others so that we can enjoy the smug satisfaction of our own self-righteousness. We fail to recognise that members of paramilitary organisations are members of our own communities – that they are husbands and sons, brothers and fathers. They are not animals like the Hebrew scapegoat, they are flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone.

Scapegoating saves the media from having to investigate the true origins and nature of society’s ills. It is a lot easier to lay the blame on a ready-made scapegoat than having to look for real identifiable culprits. Blaming unincorporated organisations which have no legal remedy against slander and libel is a lot safer than naming individuals and having to face them in court.

Politicians use the paramilitaries as scapegoats to cover up their abject failure to establish a just, equitable and peaceful society in which all citizens can enjoy a life free from crime and deviant behaviour. The clergy use the paramilitaries as scapegoats to cover up their failure to build a bridge between a world of hurting humanity and the love and compassion of a healing Saviour. Locked away in their holy huddles and spiritual bunkers they have lost the significance of incarnational theology and forgotten the true meaning of kenosis.

In the wake of recent events within loyalism some of these clergy have emerged from their cloistered hide-aways to present themselves as potential mediators. How people can present themselves as credible and impartial mediators, while still engaging in the prejudicial art of scapegoating the very people between whom they wish to mediate, is beyond my understanding.

Whatever the faults of paramilitarism may be – and there are many – they ought not to be used as the scapegoats for society’s ills or as a cover for the failure of civil society to address its own problems.

Billy Mitchell was a member of the Progressive Unionist Party Executive and Programme Manager of LINC resource Centre, an inter-community development initiative based in North Belfast.