Scapegoats

People are lazy. This is particularly true no matter where one looks. From the rank-and-file to the ``head honchos'' of the company, everyone is lazy. Usually this is not a problem, since people who are lazy tend to be a little innovative and get the job done in the end. The problem comes when something bad happens, and the people's innovation fall into the unethical realm.

Yes, I am talking about the issue of scapegoats.

Scapegoats are the most unlucky of the lot, being the ones chosen to take the fall for whatever blunder was made, whether or not they were involved with the matter at hand. I have been made a scapegoat before, and I can assure you that it is not the most comfortable feeling ever. The worst feeling comes when there's absolutely no one to appeal to to redress the malignment---it is literally the shittiest situation to ever be in.

Why talk about scapegoats now, one might wonder. There were several recent happenings which caused quite a ruckus to the denizens of the cluster, and as part of what happened, two not-so-guilty parties who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time got ``set-up'' to take the fall of the actions of the nameless few who were more flagrant violators of the unspoken rule. Sure, one can say ``tough luck'' to these two folks and then laugh it off over a beer on how unlucky they were, but think about this from the perspective of those who were investigating. What had prompted them to go down this route? Why did they choose to ``mark'' these two people instead of hunting down the myriad who had done actions more unspeakable than the alleged violations that the two were slapped with?

I think the reason is straightforward. The powers that be just needed scapegoats. Think about it this way. If the wrong-doing were something that many people had done, would it make much sense for an investigator to expend all the effort just to bring all these people to ``justice''? If you were untainted by the modern news network, I think that your answer would be a resounding ``no''. In fact, if you were somewhat rational, you would think that all you needed to do was to just catch hold of that one poor sod that didn't manage to get away and make him/her a lesson for the others to learn from.

I am not making allegations in malice---I am just using this story as an example of how our current society works. In the past, I truly believed that justice could be impartially dealt with, the facts will point the way and the guilty will pay for their misdemeanour, while the innocent will be freed from all persecution. Unfortunately, the world doesn't quite work that way. The person with the most money wins, whether or not he/she was in the right or wrong, while the person with the least money is destined to lose, unless somehow the miscarriage of justice is blatant enough that turning a blind eye to the matter is impossible.

We live in a time of fear and confusion. Left and right we are bombarded by advertisement and paid propaganda on what is ``right'' and what is ``wrong'', sometimes with wholly illogical consequences. Life used to be simpler---to live a good life, one just lived a life that was free of ``sin'' (for some definition of ``sin''), but in this time and age where the original concept of morality is lacking and ad hoc, there is no way that a normal person can lead a life that is truly free of injustices/wrong-doings.

At the end of the day, people just live to avoid being made scapegoats, and to earn enough money to stave away the rich vultures circling overhead, ready to swoop down when you are unguarded, and to take your carrion back to their growing pile of increasing success, while you get trampled all over the place, never truly finding the voice and conviction necessary to prove your innocence once and for all.