Scapegoating and the Anti-Immigrant Hysteria (Lawrence Ludlow)

Lawrence Ludlow on the common projection that illegal immigrants are to blame for all of the woes that are actually caused by the welfare state:

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, a scapegoat is “a goat upon whose head are symbolically placed the sins of the people, after which he (the goat) is sent into the wilderness in the biblical ceremony for Yom Kippur.” A second definition is “one that is the object of irrational hostility.” Some sources add that a scapegoat is a metaphor “referring to someone who is blamed for our misfortunes, generally as a way of distracting attention from the real causes.”

Currently in the United States , “illegal immigrants” function as scapegoats. They are blamed for the self-inflicted wounds of our welfare state.

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