Persuading With The Help Of Scapegoats
"United We Stand". For a while there nearly every other car in the country had a bumper sticker appealing to us to stand united, implicitly suggesting that this was our only salvation, because what happens when we don't stand united? That's right. We fall divided.
If we buy into the current political ideology, defeating terrorism and standing united, will this bumper sticker's advice keep us safe? Or will the presuppositions keep us from digging deeper and learning the real stories behind these platitudes?
With scapegoating, having a common enemy works best. Think: the devil, the boogie man, terrorists, Osama bin Laden.
In religion, Christianity specifically, we have Satan. In politics, say in the 1950's, there was the communist threat. More recently in politics, we had Scooter Libby (more of a fall guy, as opposed to scapegoat, say the pundits, because scapegoat implies innocence and fall guys are usually involved in the blame.)
The Salem Witch Trials were all about scapegoating. At the time, the citizens were having difficulty as a result of church and state, so to divert attention women were hunted down as the cause of society's ills and burned at the stake.
Religion is great for scapegoating. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent. The Baptists show how the Mormons miss the point and lead people astray and visa versa. In order for Christianity to exist, Satan is the 'necessary evil', so to speak. Without Satan there is nothing to save humanity from. The concept of Satan has single-handedly maintained Christianity throughout the years.
I want to stress here that I am not debating the existence of Satan. I have no intention or interest in converting or recruiting anybody to my spiritual, religious or political beliefs. I am simply showing how scapegoating can and has been used over the years.
Politically, scapegoating is multi-layered and at play when our attention is diverted from the body count in Iraq to a focus on gay marriage or stem cell research.
A national phenomenon of scapegoating occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The media fueled it with its new label: the blame game. Instead of agreeing that there was a failure on all levels of government in an untenable situation of an impoverished city, geographically and economically handicapped, the blaming began in full force.
People ultimately want to believe that their problems or failures are the result of something outside themselves.
In sales and business scapegoating can be used to suggest your new client or prospect's former adviser (or agent), lacked knowledge and gave terrible advice and is responsible for preventing the client from earning what they should have earned.
To use this tactic ethically, try making the scapegoat an opposing force such as an idea, philosophy or an unfortunate circumstance and not a person or group.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of wealthy prospects using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies.
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by: KenrickCleveland
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