Class Activities Every society desires a scapegoat.

“Justice Denied” Justice Denied is an article that we read and discussed in class. It is about a family run day care center where alleged child abuse occurred. The family that ran the day care was convicted of child abuse and was sent to prison. As the newspaper revealed, several aspects of the case were not dealt with fairly. This relates to my personal philosophy statement, because according to the article, although hard evidence concerning the case was never found, the family was still put in jail. They were accused and convicted of abusing children, even though their was no proof. In society today, we are so eager to identify a perpetrator that we sometime forget the foundation of our justice system. In this instance, it appeared that the family was seen as guilty before they were given the chance to prove their innocence. Also, when we leave behind the guiding ideas of our justice system, we sometimes send the wrong people to jail. I think sometimes crucial errors in evidence are missed because we are so eager to put away “bad guys”. Therefore, our society has numerous scapegoats who have been blamed for crimes they did not commit.

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” This short story is about an old man who is found in the mud in a society. He has giant wings attached to his back, and when taken in by a townsperson, he is treated like a prisoner. The other townspeople come to observe the man and conclude that he could be an angel. Each day the angel is treated horribly by curious townspeople who see him as a repulsive animal. This supports my personal philosophy statement, because although the man was not blamed for the societies woes, he was tortured because he was different. This story is an example of what aspects make describe a scapegoat, because generally, scapegoats differ in some way from the majority. In this case, large wings made this man seem strange, and thus caused others to ridicule him.

“Young Goodman Brown” In this short story, Young Goodman Brown ventures through the forest near his home. While reading it, I got the impression that the forest was the source of all evil, because that was where witchcraft was practiced. Although I generally think of scapegoats as either one or a group of people, I believe that objects can be blamed for a society’s fear. Fear is scariest when it is indescribable, and when we put a name to our fears they seem easier to cope with. I think the same ideas when we can blame just one person or group for our problems, because there is no one blame can be spread around or shared. As far as “Young Goodman Brown,” when one object, such as the forest, can be blamed for the societies problems, they can better deal with their problems by attacking just the issue of the forest.