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Editorial
Alwyn Thomson
Comment:
Failed Politics?
Norman Hamilton
From
the Director: Words and Deeds
David W Porter
Loyalism
and Me
Philip Rankin
Real
Life
David Campton
Policing
Matters
Sam Pollock
The
Crisis Within
Eddie
Kinner
Loyalism
- The Issues
Mervyn Gibson
Scapegoating
Billy Mitchell
Review...Beyond
Retribution
Stephen Graham
Down
to Basics
Malachy
O'Doherty
Faith
in the Future
David
W Porter
For
God and His Glory Alone:
Study 1: Love
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 is a member of the Progressive Unionist Party Executive and Programme Manager of LINC resource Centre, an inter-community development initiative based in North Belfast.
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