Because we have to chase him

BATMAN:
You’ll hunt me. You’ll condemn me, set the dogs on me… …
because it’s what needs to happen.
Because sometimes the truth isn’t good enough……
sometimes, people deserve more….

JAMES :
Why’s he running, Dad?!

GORDON :
Because we have to chase him…

The dynamic of scapegoating has continued to be a fascinating dynamic for me because I continue to see it more and more and usually most people fail to even recognize when it is happening. At the end of The Dark Knight, Batman accepts the reality that he must take on the role of scapegoat for the sake of Gotham’s (emotional) stability. It reminded me from a quote from a previous post I did on this topic generally at http://brianvirtue.org/2008/12/scapegoating-1862-style/ while I was reading Doris Goodwin’s Team of Rivals last year.

“The first necessity of every community after a disaster, is a scapegoat. It is an immense relief to find some one upon whom can be fastened all the sins of a whole people, and who can then be sent into the wilderness, to be heard of no more.”

- New York Times, July 7, 1862 (on pg. 447 in Team of Rivals)

When the anxiety or stress within a community surpasses a certain threshold, it would seem a scapegoat dynamic is inevitable. The scapegoat can be either someone who merits some measure of blame because of their destructive contribution to the community or general failure OR it can be someone or a group of people who might be functioning prophetically – challenging a system or group’s tyrannical drive towards safety, stability, and the status quo.

I also posted on this theme here after seeing the musical “Wicked” a while back at http://brianvirtue.org/2007/11/wicked-yes-spoilers-included/. Elpheba (the green wicked witch) plays the prophetic role that gets ostracized for doing the right things and for speaking honestly. This is captured really well in the angry, but yet honest song “No good deed goes unpunished.” This title is a classic expression of what power and status driven leaders facilitate when a prophetic voice emerges in the system that challenges the unhealthy or unjust behaviors present.

Elpheba nobly chooses alienation as opposed to compromising her integrity and adopting the systemic values of status, power, and the fear based anxiety that comes with trying to maintain those things. The reality is that a system bent on making a scapegoat will not easily relent because there is too much at stake for the people in power.

Of course one of the best examples and most revealing about how these dynamics reflect what is going on in people’s hearts in that of how Jesus is scapegoated so that stability and the power structures of the first century Jewish community could be maintained.

As an observation, scapegoating is not a choice. Groups naturally gravitate towards this in highly anxious situations. It requires intentionality to fight this compulsion to scapegoat because it is powerful and subconscious. It can be especially dangerous when it takes on spiritual overtones or rationalizations. Batman understands in this final moment that given the level of anxiety and angst in Gotham, he must allow himself to be scapegoating and that he “must be chased.”

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