Scapegoating, Paranoia, and Exclusion

Reflections about the scapegoating and exclusion faced by citizens in wording

democracies and specifically manifested in the Philippines.

Generally speaking, people are driven to develop and defend a positive self-

image (Greenwald, 1980). Blaming others or outside factors for one's failures is
a common strategy people use to protect their self-image, especially
when it is threatened (Blaine and Crocker, 1993; Bradley, 1978; Miller,
1976; Snyder).

Nobody likes to admit their flaws or mistakes, but when

the chips are down and one's reputation is on the line, desperate leaders
will frequently turn to the act of scapegoating in an effort to avoid
experiencing uncomfortable feelings of shame and/or guilt. We are not like other
animals. Either we elevate other people or we eagerly await their demise. We
are the most social animals. We enjoy mimicking one another or, alternately, taking
advantage of the other person. All the while fooling ourselves into thinking we are
self-made people, we just can't get enough of one another. Even though each of these
patterns is generally acceptable, there is one kind of relationship that is particularly
unhealthy. It is the practice of scapegoating. Everyone loses when a group of
people come together to concentrate on the flaws of one individual or subgroup of
undesirable people within their midst. It is detrimental to all of the sheep and
ultimately advantageous to the wolves to try to keep the black sheep out of the flock.

Anxiety about potential harm from others is known as paranoia. It might result
from pressures to discern and avoid social threats, especially when conditions are
unclear or shifting. Without social threat, we suggest that uncertainty may be enough
to cause learning differences in paranoid people. We estimated belief updating across
people with and without mental illness, online participants, and rats chronically
exposed to methamphetamine, a substance that causes paranoia in people. Stronger
past volatility and increased sensitivity to perceived changes in the task environment
are both associated with paranoia. Exposure to methamphetamine in rats reproduces
this impaired uncertainty-driven belief updating and rigid anticipation of a volatile
environment. Our research demonstrates fundamental, domain-general learning
differences in paranoid people. Further analysis of the interactions between
uncertainty and belief-updating across individuals and species is made possible by
this paradigm.

At some point in their lives, everyone has experienced fleeting worries that
people are out to get them. Sometimes, these worries can turn into paranoia and
become crippling. Serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia frequently feature
paranoia as a symptom. Extreme distress may result, and there is evidence that this is
associated with a higher risk of self- or other-violence. It may be possible to treat or
manage paranoia more effectively if we know what goes on in the brains of those who
experience it.

According to some professionals, people's misinterpretations of social situations

are what lead to paranoia. Another theory is that the way the brain creates and revises
worldviews is what causes paranoia. Reed and co. demonstrate that paranoid
individuals and rats exposed to a substance known to cause paranoia both frequently
change their minds, expect the world to change, and have a harder time adapting to
changing circumstances.

In the experiments, human participants with and without psychiatric disorders

engaged in a game in which the optimal decisions fluctuate. The participants then
responded to a survey to rate their level of paranoia. People with higher paranoia
levels anticipated more changes and made less predictable decisions. In a subsequent
set of tests, rats were housed in a cage with three holes and occasionally given sugar
rewards. Methamphetamine, a substance that inflicts paranoia in humans, was given
to some of the rats. The drug-treated rats also anticipated that the sugar reward's
location would change frequently. The animals who had been given drugs had a
harder time picking up new skills and adjusting to new situations.

The act of shifting blame and responsibility from oneself to a target person or
group is known as scapegoating. It is an aggressive social-psychological discrediting
routine. Additionally, by making unwarranted accusations against other people, one
may project their anger and hostility. The victim is likely to experience rejection from
those the perpetrator is trying to influence. The victim feels unfairly persecuted and is
subjected to unjustified vilification, blame, and criticism. There are many different
types of scapegoating, ranging from the use of "approved" enemies of very large
groups of people to the scapegoating of specific individuals by other individuals.
Always present is distortion.

Children would be better protected from criminals who try to exploit them in the
Philippines, according to the bill's supporters. However, the law would have a
punitive effect: minors between the ages of 14 and 9 who commit serious crimes like
murder, unlawful detention, or "carnapping," or break the nation's strict drug laws,
can receive "mandatory confinement" sentences of up to 12 years.

The national Commission on Human Rights criticized the bill, claiming that it
violated the state's obligation to protect children's best interests and welfare by
punishing kids for crimes they committed and for being mistreated by gangs and other
people. The neuroscientific research that demonstrates how the brain is still
developing into one's mid-20s, including the capacity to restrain impulses, consider
the implications of decisions, prioritize, and strategize, was cited by the Philippines
representative of the United Nations organization for children, Unicef.

The Philippines has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which
states that children should only be detained or imprisoned as a last resort and that
rehabilitation should take precedence. The age of criminal responsibility should be at
least 14 years old and should under no circumstances be lowered below that,
according to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which oversees
government compliance with the convention.

As a result of police and government agents killing dozens of children during

anti-drug operations as suspected drug users or because they were used as pawns by
drug dealers, children in the Philippines have already been subjected to the extreme
violence of Duterte's "drug war." The proposed law will further stigmatize children by
making them the victims of the oppressive anti-crime campaign of the government.
 Anent to this, The victims of scapegoating are frequently taken by surprise and
feel completely powerless to defend themselves against accusations that are
frequently vicious and/or highly damaging. The initial reaction is shock and disbelief,
which is then followed by a concoction of fear, apprehension, and paranoia.

There are a number of reasons why one or more members of a group of people
become the group's problem. Blaming is a universal human tendency. We are too
overwhelmed to change what we fear about ourselves, so we want others to do it. The
people who are blamed frequently have a history of receiving blame and frequently
lack the social skills necessary to blend in without drawing ire from others. They
frequently possess an uncanny understanding of group dynamics and are eager to
unfairly assign blame for other people's problems. People who are frequently blamed
have a motto that seems to appeal to other people's contempt: "What did I do to make
everyone hate me?" On the other hand, those who lay the blame are infamous for
being blind to their own faults. They are more than happy to assign blame to someone
else for their own shortcomings. Their catchphrase is "Everything would be OK if our
problem person would just go away." They are unaware that what they dislike about
the scapegoat is exactly what they dislike about themselves.

References:

Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 2016. Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning
on the American Right. New York: The New Press. Chapters 1, 9 and 15.

Cramer, Katherine J. 2016. The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in

Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Chapter 1.

Parker, Christopher S. and Matt A. Barreto. Forthcoming. “The Great White Hope:
Existential Threat and Status Anxiety in the Age of Trump.” Political Behavior.

Dinas, Elias, et al. 2019. “Waking Up the Golden Dawn: Does Exposure to the
Refugee Crisis Increase Support for Extreme-Right Parties?” Political Analysis 27:
pp. 244-254.

Bansak, Kirk, Jens Hainmueller and Dominik Hangartner. 2016. “How Economic,
Humanitarian, and Religious Concerns Shape European Attitudes Toward Asylum
Seekers.” Science 354(6309): pp. 217-222.