The term “scapegoat” comes from a ritual described in Leviticus, where a goat was symbolically burdened with the sins of the people and sent into the wilderness, supposedly taking with it the community’s collective guilt. It’s handy that people have an antipathy toward goats: “scapekittens” or “scapepuppies” just wouldn’t work as well. Over time, the term evolved to describe individuals or groups unfairly blamed for problems they didn’t cause. A “fall guy”, by contrast, is someone who takes the blame knowingly or is set up to absorb consequences for others, usually as part of a calculated strategy. In both cases, the objective is to deflect responsibility, but the fall guy is more instrumental in the narrative.
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