Racial violence is going to increase. All fascist and authoritarian movements needs a scapegoat to blame all of the problems both real and imagined on. The GQP is no different. And, given their recent rhetoric it is clear that they are focusing the ire and violence of their radicalizing base on Blacks and immigrants.
- Why is there so much #COVID19 in Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick? Because the Blacks ain’t vaxxed yet never mind that we made it as hard to get the vaccine for Blacks folks as we are fixing to make it hard for them to vote.
- Why is there so much #COVID19 in Florida, Gov. DeSantis? Because of all the immigrants pouring into the state across our southern border.
- What’s wrong with our democracy? All the immigrants that the Dems are letting in so they will all vote Dem. That’s the real reason Biden is pulling out of Afghanistan to create a wave of immigrants that will all vote Dem.
I thought we’d highlight one example of how normal people get roped into doing abnormal things in the name of scapegoating. This is what it looks like: A Michigan man shot at his neighbor’s house and slashed their car tires, not because they are Black, but because they had a BLM sign in their window.
“I targeted these people because I didn’t like their political sign that they had in the window,” he said. “I think you guys are some great people and didn’t deserve this at all.”
Man says he shot at, vandalized neighbors’ Michigan home over Black Lives Matter sign
He was sentenced to four to ten years for his trouble.
Amazingly, the targets of the violence responded with grace and forgiveness.
“I’m not angry, I’m not. I’m forgiving,” Candace Hall, 55, said at Frederick’s sentencing. “You’re a good kid and have a chance. You made a bad choice, and we understand that. We have children ourselves. We’re not hateful people, we’re Christians.”
Man says he shot at, vandalized neighbors’ Michigan home over Black Lives Matter sign
Would that all this incidents ended with such a Kumbaya moment and not with people dead and lives ruined,except for the perpetrator’s life, that is, but that’s not likely. It is likely to get much uglier and much worse before it is all over.
If you liked this quick dip into a news story and the psychology it portrays, let us know by doing one or more of the following:
- Comment: Be sure to read my comment on the astonishingly large amount of money Ma Belle Femme and I found recently. You’ll be astonished and I’m sure moved to leave your own comment.
- Like: The easiest thing in the world to do is search around down there for the magic button of liking and enjoying the sensation of clicking it.
- Rate: On your way out, be sure to rate this post — it’s five-star, isn’t it?
- Share: Your friends, family, and social media acquaintances will enjoy reading what you’re reading, so why not share it with them. There are buttons located conveniently at the end of the post for this purpose.
- Join: You can go completely mad and join the veritable dozen people who get email notifications of every blog posting just by entering your email address in the blank below.
Image Attribution
“Running goats or ibex” by WhatsAllThisThen is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Share this:
Categories: Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology
The Psy of Life 
Howdy Half!
We appreciate all commenters here at Ye Olde Blogge. We have a policy of responding to everyone of them, no matter what, but we don’t approve every comment. Our requirement is that commenters must make a cogent point with some kind of support rather than accusation, invective, or disinformation. I know a thing or two about Vidor, Texas and Cointelpro, but other than that, I don’t find anything cogent about your comment.
I very actively pimp Ye Olde Blogge on other people’s blogs and in social media, but I try to make complete sentences, relate to the topic of the post that I’m commenting on. And, I certainly don’t try to avoid the spam filter by omitting the http portion of the URL.
Consequently, your comment is not approved, but I invite you to make a clearer more narrative comment that relates to the post even if it is a counter-argument and disagreeing with it. Every comment must be constructive, though, meaning developing an argument.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLike
Howdy Art!
Thank you for your comment. I’m not going to go through how the promotion of hate crimes helps the GQP “stay in power” because it has been detailed in numerous other posts that you are welcome to search for or just follow the links in the post you’re commenting on. I’m also not following the link with such a scant description of it. In fact, because I don’t trust the link, I’m not going to approve of your comment to protect my community of readers from following it and finding whatever malware may be waiting on the other end.
If you’ve got more to say, I’m happy to hear it. If you’ve got more information about what is in the video, I’ll reconsider.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for linking to the post. It is much appreciated.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just can’t take the gaslighting of telling people they are white priviliged. It is benign to give others power over you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy Arty!
Thank you for writing a comment! I really appreciate any and everyone who takes the time to comment. While I would’ve liked to hear more about why you think white privilege is gaslighting, I am grateful that a contrary opinion was not expressed using invective and insult.
White people are privileged. White privilege isn’t personal, it is the aggregate of white people who are privileged. White privilege expresses itself in the in between spaces of our lives. It is the absence of oppression in white lives. We are not redlined for house loans. We are not denied interviews because our names sound too ethnic. The prices of our property is not devalued because of the color of our skin. The police are less likely to treat us with hostility and suspicion when we interact with them.
White people can and do still struggle in their lives, but we do it without the added burden of the impediments that we’ve put in the way of Black and Brown people. That is what makes it so difficult to see, understand, and accept.
By telling white people that removing these barriers to full economic, social, and political participation by Black and Brown people is harming them, it induces anger, fear, anxiety, and agitation which makes it much more likely that they will act on those feelings. We are seeing it now. There is a statistical increase in hate crimes against PoC by white people. We are now seeing Proud Boys and Antifa brawling in the streets of Portland. We’re now seeing teachers attacked in schools and medical professionals heckled and threatened after townhalls.
Our society is becoming much more tolerant of violence. It is a bad thing and it is rooted in the resistance to the changing demographics of our country.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am afraid your societal dysfunctionalism does not work on me. It is that I live under different laws where I live. I also, see that it hinders society to have these kind of a pedestal based on the colour of someone’s skin is an anecdotal way of people not having to deal with themselves and get a decent education or some set of skills.
There are amazing people that have worked hard and abided by the law in all walks of life. Then, what you do with white privilege is you perpetuate discrimination.
I do quite well because I do not put white people in a category which allows me to be a victim. It is a matter of perspective. My perspective is, many want the easy way out and a scapegoat, so they will attack authority to get there own way.
Most immigrants do not want to attack society, they want to fit in. So they will do their upmost to make friends with as many people as they can. What happens when they put white people on a pedestal?
Well, not a lot because they will become disheartened and not believe in what they can achieve. Hence, it is just a matter of your psychological perspective. I am not a victim and will not bend to any kind of supremacist talk.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy Arty!
I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to say.
I can only speak about race relationships in America where your belief in yourself as a victim or not will not change whether you get denied a home loan based on your race or the devaluation of your property based on your race. White privilege in the US is based on the systemic racism that is built into every system in the US and is deeply embedded in the psyche of white Americans.
I’m glad you’re doing well having immigrated to the country you immigrated to.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLike
Does this happen often that people cannot even separate the American psyche with an immigrant?
Like I said Black and I live in another country, not had a single problem.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I understand that part. I just don’t know how it pertains to American systemic racism.
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah! A lot of people become victims in their own lifestyle choices. But they should not believe it is based on their colour of their skin, because now that is being used as an excuse for not making wise choices in your life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like I said I am not a victim, as an immigrant in another country and I am black. I cannot understand why you want to make them not want to prove themselves.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unfortunately, I have no idea what you’re trying to say. Who am I not wanting to make prove themselves? I’m not asking anyone to prove themselves. I’m addressing societal and system forces that enforce racist behaviors that are independent of individual agency.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLike
I am black and an immigrant, and I do not allow anyone to victimise me. Did you think my pronouns was a little over the top? Heheheh
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, it’s not over the top, but the point of American systemic racism is that you don’t realize it is happening whether you’re black or white. When your house is appraised by a realtor, you don’t know that it is significantly lower than what it would be if you were white unless you get a white person to pose as the owner and compare the estimates. It wouldn’t matter if you wouldn’t allow someone to victimize you. You wouldn’t be aware of the victimization. When the bank turns down your application for a loan because you want to buy a house in a white neighborhood, they don’t tell you it was because of that. They just say that you didn’t qualify. Your attitude doesn’t factor into it.
Systemic racism isn’t about individuals. It is about the system. You’re lucky not to live in such a system.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLike
Yeah! I don’t have that problem- I just go to the human rights complaints office and I get treated like everyone else. It is quite amazing when you take on human rights as well as your own countries laws because they have their own court system.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, I’m happy you’ve landed in a country that has resolved the racism issue. Would that it were so in the States, but racism is alive and well and human rights, not so much.
LikeLike
Pretty sad, sorry affair that people do not want to change their perspectives on things.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Larry Elder has had the crazy media, write things that I can only say is racist rhetoric. You all need to change your media for sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on cabbagesandkings524 and commented:
Calico Jack – Lies, scapegoats, and violence
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember a picture in a description of the custom from which we get the word “scapegoat”. The custom was to put the blame for community troubles magically on a goat and then drive it from the village. The picture was of people throwing rocks at the poor frightened goat to drive it away. So, violence is integral to the process of scapegoating from its origins.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! What culture came up with that move? The poor goat driven out to be a meal for some other predator.
Given the necessity of being a group member, being scapegoated is just as damaging. Of course, the violence of the practice matched the violence of the concept.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
As to which culture, there is this from Wikipedia:
“In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of two kid goats. As a pair, one goat was sacrificed (not a scapegoat) and the living “scapegoat” was released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities. The concept first appears in Leviticus, in which a goat is designated to be cast into the desert to carry away the sins of the community.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy Bob!
Thanks for that. The early Middle Eastern cultures could be just brutal. I don’t know why but I focus on the fear that an immature goat driven off into the desert must have felt just waiting to be devoured by some predator. But, it does capture the concept and cruelty inherent in a scapegoat in its modern usage.
Leviticus. Not exactly Christian, right?
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
Right
LikeLiked by 1 person