Duke Street Alley

I've noticed this over the years too -- the best analyst of it I've found is the French philosopher/sociological type Rene Girard, in his book Violence and the Sacred, where he analyses how scapegoating constitutes a social group. He approaches it via ancient sacrificial economies, which rather gloomily implies we've been doing it for several millenia. :(

I have cited Girard in social situations before where I've felt like pointing out the current scapegoat by which the group is constituting itself. It's really striking; I agree .. and it's ghastly to see.