The Invention of Blame (The Scapegoat Mechanism)

What is blame? What happens when you assign responsibility to someone else, or to a group of people, and use that to inform how you treat them? What does scapegoating accomplish, and what is the root cause of tribalism?

Kevin examines philosopher René Girard’s Mimetic Desire and Scapegoat Mechanism concepts to unearth the very core of human behavior and how we function as a society. It all starts with babies imitating adults immediately out of the womb, and it ends with burning disco albums at a baseball game. Somehow that bizarre human journey all makes sense -- and you’ll know more about yourself and the world around you.

**** LINKS AND SOURCES ****

BOOKS

The Scapegoat by René Girard on Amazon
http://geni.us/TheScapegoat

Evolution and Conversion: Dialogues on the Origins of Culture by René Girard on Amazon
http://geni.us/EvolutionAndConversion

René Girard and Myth by Richard Golsan on Amazon
http://geni.us/ReneGirardandMyth

Mimesis and Science: Empirical Research on Imitation and the Mimetic Theory of Culture and Religion by Scott R. Garrels on Amazon
http://geni.us/MimesisAndScience

Patterns of Culture by Ruth Benedict on Amazon
http://geni.us/PatternsOfCulture

RESOURCES

René Girard
http://www.iep.utm.edu/girard/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNkSBy5wWDk
https://vimeo.com/123072513
http://180rule.com/rene-girards-mimetic-theory-the-scapegoat/
https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=29620

Waiting For The Barbarians by C. P. Cavafy
http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=119&cat=1

RESEARCH

Orgins Of The Modern Mind: Three Stages In The Evolution Of Culture And Cognition by Merlin Donald
http://cognitrn.psych.indiana.edu/busey/q551/PDFs/DonaldEvolution.pdf

Born To Learn: What Infants Learn From Watching Us by Andrew Meltzoff
http://ilabs.washington.edu/meltzoff/pdf/99Meltzoff_BornToLearn.pdf

Imitation Of Facial And Manual Gestures by Human Neonates by Andrew Meltzoff and M. Keith Moore
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/198/4312/75

ASSET CREDITS

René Girard Interview by Rev Dr Steven E Berry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWsU5rXDFVc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN9-PFCJMQQ

CARTA: Is the Human Mind Unique? -- Merlin Donald: Skilled Performance and Artistry by UCTV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EOKOKp2QlM

Dodson’s Hollywood Monkey Stars by Chevrolet News Newsreel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-z1b0JZxgc

Maltese Dog Dancing And Eating An Orange by Gerardo Camba
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgX_Ur6T3g8

Experiments with chimpanzees, works of N. Ladygina-Kohts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8imskoHgAb0

YOUTUBERS

Ethan - h3h3Productions
https://www.youtube.com/user/h3h3Productions

Destin - Smarter Every Day
https://www.youtube.com/user/destinws2

Lex - MadeYewLook
https://www.youtube.com/user/MadeYewLook

Austin Evans
https://www.youtube.com/user/duncan33303

Mary Doodles
https://www.youtube.com/user/marydoodles

Dianna - Physics Girl
https://www.youtube.com/user/physicswoman

Derek - Veritasium
https://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium

Jake - Vsauce3
https://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce3

Michael - Vsauce1
https://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce

VSAUCE CREDITS

Written, Produced, Edited and Hosted by Kevin Lieber
Instagram: http://instagram.com/kevlieber
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinlieber
Website: http://kevinlieber.com

Contributing Researcher & Editor Matthew Tabor, Koala Fight Media
http://koala.fm/

VFX by Eric Langlay
https://www.youtube.com/c/ericlanglay

Sound Design by Jay Pellizzi
http://jaypellizzi.com/

Select Music by Jake Chudnow
https://www.youtube.com/user/jakechudnow

Special Thanks Paula Lieber
https://twitter.com/pixichuu

Special Thanks Andrew Meltzoff, Ph.D.
http://ilabs.uw.edu/institute-faculty/bio/i-labs-andrew-n-meltzoff-phd

Special Thanks Dr. Richard J. Golsan
http://glasscock.tamu.edu/about-us/glasscock-center-staff/richard-j-golsan-director/

Vsauce2 Links
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/VsauceTwo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VsauceTwo
Website: http://www.Vsauce.com

Curiosity Box: https://www.curiositybox.com/

My Father's Guitars - Lieber Guitars
http://lieberguitars.com/

BetaSeries' opinion

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S01E322 - The Invention Of Blue