Sunday, February 24, 2013

Scapegoatess!

Scapegoating is one of the great American pastimes. We need someone to blame for what ails us and it can never be the system or the elites in general. When two kids kill a bunch of other kids, it must be that devil worshiper Marilyn Manson. When our kids fail to live up to our dreams, it's the teacher's fault. And when someone does the unthinkable, it is generally the parents who are to blame. This, of course, extends to the world of economics. We need scapegoats when things are going well for the average American. Starting in the 1970s, it was affirmative action and feminism to blame for the falling standard of living of the working class and middle class white male. When the Internet bubble burst, it was "irrational exuberance" by investors. And in the last crisis, a few bad apples were put out as the cause, rather than any systemic problem -- the same thing that happened at the turn of the century when a number of corporate scandals threatened a broader analysis of the shortcomings of capitalism.

Bad apples is the favored phrase. And ironically it is often woman who are served up as Public Enemy #1. After the Abu Ghraib PR disaster, it was two women that exemplified the loss of morality in the Iraqi soldiers. The aforementioned corporate and Wall Street excess of the late 90s early 2000s was best punished in taking down the queen of female entrepenurial spirit Martha Stewart. And now as the economy continues to languish for the majority of us while the elite few continue to live gilded lives, they found a woman to take the fall for capitalism's peccadilloes once again. In this case, it is Lorraine O. Brown who will be the fall gal for systemic corruption and poor decision-making (Salon). What did she do? Well, she engaged in massive mortgage document fraud. In other words, she was one of the well-paid middle men who help the big guns make their cash without getting their hands dirty (though in this case many did that as well). 

So we shall have our collective pathos resolved by toting the shamed monster who was too greedy to follow the rules of the game. She will serve as the symbol of the symptoms we constantly confuse with the cause. She will make us feel better, as she is punished we are healed. One interesting difference between the male fall guy schmuck and the female scapegoat schlemiel is that the former tends to be sold as a victim and the latter as an irredeemable villain. Remember all the bile aimed at Lynndie England, the Army reserve soldier who had her thumbs up in one of the disturbing images but no power over other soliders, or Stewart or Casey Anthony? Many felt sorry for O.J., the Menendez brothers and Kenneth Lay. Even our presidential assassins have been sold as victims by many. But who cries for the female patsy?  No one. And why? Could it be the lingering sense of emmasculation and loss that has accompanied the feminist successes in recent years? Is it the same strategy used by the conservatives these last 30 or so years -- of sleigh of hand redistribution of guilt to push us off the scent? Or do we just like to see women punished for their sins in a sort of chaste S&M spectacle? Whatever the case may be, it is clear that scapegoates of the female variety are on the rise. Best heed Cassandra's cry, for it might be you next for whom the blame tolls.    

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