Scape-goat, scape cat, scape race - choose your target

On July 26, 2024, J.D. Vance announced “childless cat ladies” were miserable sociopaths causing the decline of mental health in the U.S., and who have no stake in the future of the nation because they haven’t produced human offspring.

The audacity, misogyny and laughable stupidity of his words aside, Vance’s comments ignited a wave of (somewhat amused) fury among more than just childless women and men and cat lovers (those two not always being one-and-the-same).

I’ve been stereotyped and marginalized many times in my life (as many of us have), usually by being ignored, brushed aside or disregarded. It hurts, but I think it’s taught me to have more empathy and compassion for those who face it continually, and in ways far worse than I’ve ever experienced. I must admit that when Vance’s words hit me, a wave of sadness came over me for the sheer meanness of his statement. I paused …

“Am I miserable?” “Do I really not care about the country?” Also a bit of a “head trip” was the irony of being accused of causing mental illness when my job is to try and help people heal it. What made me even sadder was reading an article where Vance was said to have remarked that having children “cured” him of his childhood trauma, and has made upstanding fathers out of many “wayward” men he’s known (he did not, of course, mention mothers).

At this point, my sadness gave way to anger — a lot of anger. Suggesting that procreation is the cure for mental health difficulties is the epitome of irresponsibility; condemning mothers, fathers and children to failed expectations and tragically difficult lives.

Then, as if to prove that point, after six weeks of continuous rhetoric about J.D Vance and his philosophy, the attention of the nation was diverted from childless cat ladies to a 14-year-old boy in Georgia who shot up a school on Sept. 4, killing two teachers and two students with the AR-15 assault rifle his allegedly abusive father had bought for him last Christmas in an attempt to “toughen the boy up.” There are so many things wrong in that story I don’t even know where to begin.

It didn’t end there. Just seven days after that tragedy, before Georgia could even finish burying its dead, the attention of the nation turned yet again to another villain when Vance’s running mate, Donald Trump, perpetuated a social media rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating people’s pets. By this time, my fellow cat ladies and I were at least somewhat off the radar for contributing to the decline of civilization.

The dictionary defines a scapegoat as “one who bears the blame for the mistakes of others.” The word originated thousands of years ago in ancient near East civilizations with regard to a ceremony where a priest or other high-ranking official would symbolically place all the sins and indiscretions of the people onto the head of a kid goat which was then chased away into the wilderness, carrying their iniquities with it.

“And the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region …” (Leviticus, 16:22-23) This was believed to effectively absolve the people of their sins, until of course they stacked up again, at which time another goat would be sacrificed. In Greece, the “goat” was sometimes a person of lower status or a criminal — populations we refer to as “vulnerable” due to their lack of skills, resources or opportunities to protect themselves against abuse. These populations also include the very old or very young, animals, those with mental or developmental challenges, and those thought to be pacifists (not wanting to fight). They are considered easy targets.

How convenient for a society to be able to cast all their problems onto a goat or a cat or a race of people or certain type of criminal or a Democrat or a Republican or whatever rather than take responsibility for its own actions or heaven forbid advocate for justice for the goat.

As I drove to work the other day, a car slipped in front of me when our lanes converged. On the back were three messages: 1: “Unity over Diversion” (along with the names of two people of political persuasion); 2: a small sticker that said, quite simply: “Be Kind;” and 3: along the top of the South Carolina license plate the phrase: “While I breathe, I hope.”

Thanks for reading, and be well.

(Colleen Dougherty is a writer, educator, artist and behavioral health therapist. Her 20-plus years in animal welfare include jobs and volunteer work in veterinary clinics, animal shelters and TNR organizations. She has been a speaker at the New Mexico State Humane Conference and the National LINK Conference in Albuquerque, holds degrees in art and counseling therapy, and graduate certificates in eco psychology and humane education. Her passion is building joyful and respectful relationships between animals, humans, and the Earth. She began writing Paw it Forward in March 2016.)