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Recent Examples of scapegoatOur fresh polling data from approximately 100 college and university presidents in attendance at the Yale Higher Education Leadership Summit last week reveals that higher education leaders are no longer cowering as their schools are wrongly exploited as scapegoats for political grandstanding.—Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, TIME, 4 Feb. 2025 But for the most part, this all works out pretty neatly: Noor gets to reunite with her mother, Abbas gets to save his daughter and blame his own slip-ups on some (deserving) scapegoats, and Javad will be sent back to Iran.—Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 27 Jan. 2025 In a tragic instant, Thompson became a scapegoat for the legitimate—but until now, amorphous—rage people have about America’s health-care system, in which a company’s profits can be someone else’s broken life.—airmail.news, 25 Jan. 2025 Anti-immigrant sentiment is high in South Africa, where migrants are often used as scapegoats for other problems.—Kate Bartlett, NPR, 18 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for scapegoat
The two boys have become the most recognizable victims of the October 7 terror attacks.
—
Mick Krever,
CNN,
20 Feb. 2025
The term has been applied to other groups as well: Teachers, health care workers, government officials and public safety professionals may encounter mandates that threaten to compromise their values, witness morally repugnant behavior or become a victim of somebody else’s transgression.
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