The modern world keeps presenting us with scapegoats. Lance Armstrong, Richard Millet, Jérôme Kerviel, John Galliano, to name but a few, each in a field, with completely different causes and reasons, have recently embodied the scapegoat, the justly punished culprit, the impediment in a circle put back in its place. The scapegoat is linked to egalitarianism, itself linked to envy. From hero to scapegoat, only the desire does not change. The modern world has the spectacle in its blood, the scapegoat has a cathartic function there.

In the era of modern democracy, everything goes through Twitter or Facebook. The real information is there. Not being there is tantamount to disappearing, to maintaining a life in the shadows, a shadowy life. On social networks, the height of modern democracy is allowed: rub shoulders with the idol, live with the idol, to the rhythm of the idol, knowing everything about her, seeing her when she gets out of bed, embracing good evening; only tactile contact is missing. This proximity transforms the role of the idol that has always been known, it changes it forever. If the idol were a simple statuette, it would not speak, it would not respond, it would only occupy the place left to it, it would gather on its effigy all the mental images that the brain can produce. The modern world does not know the mental image, it is beyond fantasy. He hates what is hidden, let alone what is secret. Hence the often-used phrase: fantasy come true. The fantasy - phantasmata , the mental image for the ancient Greek - cannot be, must not be, a reality. Otherwise horror awaits. Otherwise we can only pray while waiting for everything to return to its place. There is a possible wildness in rubbing shoulders with the idol too closely. Through this proximity, the modern world has undertaken to create a cathartic lever to control consciences. The idol can be a hero or a scapegoat, it can serve the society of the spectacle and its soft dictatorship. It also allows you to fill in boxes: hero, scapegoat, fallen, condemned, victim... A sheet of cigarette paper separates these qualifiers. Against a background of moralism, society shows its cards and distributes the good or bad points. All areas are affected, but some are more “popular” than others. The scapegoat allows you to get a makeover, to deceive, or to affirm your responsibility and your incorruptibility. But no one should be fooled by such schemes. The society of the spectacle is a simulacrum of society based on intrusion, indecency and denunciation.

The fallen form a gallery of portraits. A gallery that we display because it wants to be edifying. Our world boasts as many winners as losers. He is considerate. But he loves to unbolt an idol as soon as it rebels a little against the system, as soon as it becomes bigger than the egg, the society of the spectacle calls these defeated cheaters, etymologically the cheater is the one who annoys , the one who disturbs the established order. We are not born a cheater, we become one. The cheater is always evil. It is not society that has corrupted him, it is he who corrupts society. No leniency can be invoked. The cheater is also guilty because he was trusted. We liked it. To sum up modern thinking, one would have to say that the cheater is a provocateur who gets what he deserves. This is where he becomes the scapegoat because he is considered intelligent enough to know what he is doing ¹ . It is important for the media and justice - often confused - to show that the deposed had set up a flawless organization - the merit of the investigation is obviously underlined here and the courage of the court decision proclaimed! — confusing all the checks, all the scientific character of the checks — that is to say here how brilliant and devious the fallen is. In popular language, this process has a name: cream pie. To show that the deceased has largely abused the kindness of his employer (whether we are talking here about sport or the advertiser of course) is a joke, especially since the press and the courts often associate the idea that everyone knew. The process turns out to be crystalline: everyone (in the middle) knew what was going on, but no one spoke, because the scapegoat made a reign of terror around him — it is also certain in passing that we blame this famous "everyone" that we could also call "people" to remain in terms of extreme precision, making them feel guilty will make them even more aggressive towards the one who is the cause of their guilt. This process serves to completely discredit the fallen. It is important to show that the current practices: 1) are special, singular and therefore unique or almost 2) if it were proven that these practices still exist somewhere, which of course is not very credible as the investigation was carried out in depth and with a spirit of absolute fairness, the remaining actors would be immediately transfixed for fear of being recognized 3) the scapegoat has only the currency of his coin: justice is done. The scapegoat was a dictator, a fascist. The world (of the discipline, of the socio-cultural domain, but, by implication, the world in general) will be better off after the cheater has been ousted.

The scapegoat theory

René Girard spent his life studying and deepening the phenomenon of the scapegoat ² René Girard's studies have this prodigious quality, and it is very often from this quality that we grasp the importance of a thought, that the time does not influence them, but on the contrary they take on thickness by following their historical course. It is that we escape human time. Man finds it very difficult to think outside of his time of life. His thought does not last. That of Girard is not afraid to face eternity. Time can last, and God's time does just that. "What does not last is not long", said Saint Augustine. René Girard thinks in book after book that the scapegoat theory came to an end with the death of Christ on the cross. The various manifestations of the scapegoat are only the tail of the dragon, remnants of antiquity, of the pre-Christ. This theory may seem staggering to us, the post-Christ has seen multiple and bloody and monstrous manifestations of the scapegoat. The Shoah, Rwanda, to pick only among the most modern, embody for the world the expression of the scapegoat. The kingpin of the scapegoat is envy. Indeed, the scapegoat is seen designated to the popular vindictiveness. If ever the popular vindictiveness did not shake off, the scapegoat would be free, or he would no longer be a scapegoat, just a victim. And the victim does not bear the weight of the world and of men, “we” even pity her.

The people approve of the killing of the scapegoat because the scapegoat is too handsome, too powerful, too gifted, he achieves physical prowess too easily, he is detestable, his arrogance must be punished. He has to pay. It is obvious that the scapegoat is a mental image, therefore a fantasy, but where antiquity drew on fictional characters or embodying fiction, such as a statuette, an actor's role, a literary character or even a Fighting in the arena, the modern world pushes the men who embody these fantasies and who are no less men of flesh and blood to go beyond their limits - for lack of dialogue, indifference or arrogance - the better then to take away all their glory. Envy draws a source of abundance from the spirit of competition. By creating suspicion, by succeeding in demonstrating that the success of the fallen hides something, that one is not born that way, with so many gifts (the argument always omits the work, the proofs of the work to get there), more exactly that one does not win with impunity without there being a hidden reason, that all this is not clear, the society of the spectacle must be aware that it is partly sabotaging the dream without which the scapegoat would be stripped of all emotional aspects. It is because she knows the dream always stronger, that it is possible for her to act in this way. The weakness of the human being is realized completely, absolutely, immensely in envy. The deified, adored being, the being on whom my life depends, with whom I am unhappy or sad depending on his state of mind, the being so good, so beyond anything I know, this being therefore lied, he played me, he is the most deceitful of men, the most incapable of understanding me, he must pay, he must pay, it would be justice that he pays, justice will be done, he must feel at least all the harm he did to me, that he feels what I felt and even more, because basically I was good, I did nothing, I dedicated to him and he betrayed me, he is nothing, he is less than nothing. We follow the process. The mainspring of the mechanism is called comparison. And the comparison induces envy. Comparison should be prohibited; it is still one of the precepts of a Christian education. The comparison creates the situation of rivalry, the comparison exacerbates the inequality ³ (which it will then endeavor to resolve based on envy) and from this situation of rivalry will be born a feeling of helplessness. Comparison exacerbates inequality, because it forces us to forget ourselves, it forces us to see only what is disturbing in the other. Comparison and therefore envy represent real forces of exclusion of the other. They are the spring. In comparison, the qualities of one are subject to the faults of the other. It is no longer the qualities of one that provide strength, it is the hatred of faults (which may be qualities that one does not have) that provides strength. The strength to hate is immediate and does not wait for an answer. Envy will give rise to a feeling of immeasurable power, even if the other has the glory. The feeling of power comes from the fact that one knows things that the other does not. One is in command, has his own commands of hate. He lives in darkness, in this half-light he is hidden, he alone knows, he alone has this power. After the humiliation will come the revelation. Desire revealed. Either the envious, future scapegoat, is all-powerful and creates the impotence of the envious—but also his power, as we have seen. Either the envious is not considered by the envious as all-powerful, but as lucky or treacherous or rogue or sorcerer and he creates the envious's impotence. In all cases, this feeling of powerlessness is present and “animates” the envious person.

Christianity as an antidote to savagery

If Christ marks the end of the scapegoat in the history of humanity according to René Girard, Christianity wants to be the annihilation of envy ⁴ . By signing the end of the scapegoat, by the perfect scapegoat, Jesus Christ, Christianity has also offered an unenviable model ⁵ ; a perfect model that one cannot envy and cannot envy. Christianity thought of envy as one of the supreme sources of evil and eradicated it. Of course envy still exists, but historically envy has been defeated. And with envy, evil. Dreaming and helplessness are two sides of the same coin for envy. The transition from adulation to hatred is only a matter of time. The fallen idol will become the scapegoat. Especially since the idol has tumbled. In less time than it takes to tell, with great blows of egalitarianism and moralism, two of the most fertile breasts of the modern world, the idol has become a person like any other, a person like you and I, a person almost like you and me ⁶ this space, this dimension truly, place of lawlessness, place of reverence and humility. This dimension has been trampled on, trodden under foot by egalitarianism. It is a struggle to the death of egalitarianism against any institution, any form of hierarchy, anything that endures, anything that is deeply rooted. Envy that does with misery reside, The joy and the revenge of ruin'd pride (Dryden). The envy that coexists with misery, joy and revenge of broken pride, envy often arises from pride. I felt pride in desiring this champion, I put all my pride in defending him, in supporting him, in enduring his pains, in savoring his victories, now betrayed, I will put the same pride in denigrating him , to vilify it, to shame it, to debase it. Because he betrayed my pride, because he betrayed me, he betrayed my love. When the motives of the jealous revolve only around the possessor, the motives of the envious revolve around possession. But this whole system is based on comparison, the spectator seated in front of his television set compares himself to this great sportsman because he supports him, because he defends him, because he lives with him… Through him? There is always an unhealthy appropriation in comparison.

hatred of authority

By removing the sacred distance between the idolater and his idol, egalitarianism succeeded in making this idol human. There are no more great champions, these champions whose personality overflows their talent. The personality is smooth and watered down, which in no way prevents excellence in the subject matter practiced, but there are no more rough edges. During the interviews, these athletes always repeat the same thing with the same tone. We just know them a girlfriend, a fiancée, we excuse that he goes astray, because the bewilderment is part of youth. Like comedians or writers in promotion for their book, the great champions have become stars like the others. But always, they will have to accept being spied on, to be under the magnifying glass of moralism, and if they fail in their duty they will be crushed. A sportsman who has cheated on his wife finds himself pilloried, his whole life is spent in the press, he loses his team captain's armband! English football reaches the height of moralism by punishing a player with a civil penalty and a prohibitive fine for calling another black player a "dirty nigger". Egalitarianism aided by moralism aims at its target and unbolts the idol. Whoever she is. All those who sin fall into line. If you cheated on your wife, you're not fit to be a team manager. If you racially insult another player, you deserve jail time. Here is our system of society of soft dictatorship which is set up without anyone finding anything to complain about. For a long time, we have been educated to think like this, in all American series and films, blacks live with blacks, Hispanics with Hispanics. In all American series and films, a man who faults can no longer be forgiven. He's lost forever, there's nothing anyone can do for him anymore, it's damnation. From then on, nothing could be more pleasurable than seeing this idol suddenly struck in the heart, beaten down, ridiculed, degraded. Egalitarianism loves nothing more than making examples. She thus establishes her authority. At the slightest sign of rebellion, the last weapon moralism will act in order to definitively degrade the idol by degrading it, by making it unworthy, ashamed. Because the idol is nothing compared to the system that allowed it to exist. The system erodes all personalities, passes them through the mill and twists their necks if necessary, if they fail, if they go beyond the predictable. A very… hierarchical system, in fact.

Here then is the inhuman society, absolutely anti-Christian, because it refuses to take into account the weakness and the turpitudes of the human soul. Modern society is anti-Christian, because it is egalitarian, ⁷ Egalitarianism being the breeding ground and fertilizer of envy. Christianity thinks the society of men rid of envy. Modern society thinks of human society by basing it on envy. Christianity is only interested in man. Modern society ignores it. This is how the scapegoat defeated by egalitarianism and moralism will continue to embody a lost humanity, a particular charisma, an unsurpassable talent, an indisputable freedom. Banned from society, he becomes a reference for the undocumented of modern ideology, these people await the next disturber: the next “cheater”; the one who never ceases to annoy.