Scapegoating
Scapegoating: blaming one group for a complex problem.
How to spot it
One group blamed for a complex problem: "illegal immigrants are why your rent went up", "the billionaires broke the economy". Look for a problem with many causes pinned on one set of people.
What doesn't count
Holding someone responsible for what they did isn't scapegoating. "The company's own filings show it knew about the leak" assigns blame with evidence. The technique is the whole problem loaded onto one group.
Real examples
Flagged by Semblen's model in the last 90 days and picked by rule, not by hand: the newest first, news rotated across left, center and right outlets, at most two ads from any one race. The model has false positives, a quote in a news article may be the outlet reporting what someone else said, and an ad may be quoting its opponent. Follow each link to check it in context.
In the news
“the only one that is happy about it is China”
“that's all because of Elon's cuts”
“the exact type of personality that makes up HR departments, the federal bureaucracy, the left's NGO network”
“the war had been caused by kleptocrats in Washington”
“Minority and immigrant groups allegedly mounted massive fraud campaigns to steal millions of taxpayer dollars”
“they came from jails, and they were drug dealers and they were people from mental institutions”
In 2026 campaign ads
“the casualty of a leftist agenda”
“Ashley Hinson's corruption is poisoning our water and making Iowa sick”
“thanks to radical Democrats in this state”
“putting illegal immigrants ahead of Ohio families - and sticking Ohio taxpayers with the bill”
“James Talarico sold Texas out to China”
“It's Abdul El-Sayed who would surrender our borders”
In government statements
“Donald Trump owns this rate hike and is to blame for the mortgages and credit card rates that will rise as a result”
“open our borders to gangs and criminals from the world's most dangerous places”
“don't mind shutting the government down and hurting the American people”
Related techniques
Something wrong or unclear on this page?
Tell us. A person reads every note. Use Yes / No under any example if it isn't really scapegoating: two readers saying no takes it off the page.
Check something yourself
Paste an article, a speech or a video link into the analyzer and Semblen marks each sentence that uses scapegoating or any other technique, and says why. It flags manipulation techniques, not political tilt.