Category:Scapegoat: Difference between revisions

The opposite of a Karma Houdini, a Scapegoat is a villain who is punished much more harshly than he/she would actually deserve. Good examples of scapegoats are:

• political pawns, who are wrongfully blamed for acts or laws passed (King George III of England was not responsible for the taxes on the colonies; Parliament was) by his/her government.
• villains who actually help others in some way or are well-intentioned, but are either misguided or people around them misinterpet their actions/plans as harmful.
• villains who, while categorized as villains, do not do anything especially evil or monstrous but face a punishment that would be considered harsh by today's standards (Marie Antoinette neglected her subjects, but never outright oppressed or purposely tormented them).
• political leaders who are wrongly blamed for a crisis that occurs in their country during their term in power (Czar Nicholas II of Russia is blamed for "Bloody Sunday"; in reality, he never ordered it and was appalled by it when he found out).