User blog comment:SilverPlays97/On the Recent Controversy of Admins/@comment-25929088-20150102101625/@comment-1669199-20150103004937

@Realalala: NipsterXLI didn't give you a clear answer. A scapegoat is one who, willingly or otherwise, takes the blame and/or punishment for something for which he or she wasn't responsible.

For example, say somewhere in the world a nuclear power reactor melts down and creates a catasrophe within several miles of the site. People, both in and out of the workforce for the power plant, will undoubtedly want answers for what exactly happened, and who may have been responsible for the incident happening in the first place -- assuming such a person even exists (after all, the incident could've been an accident that was entirely beyond anyone's control). So someone who has a high position within the power plant's staff (who may or may not have had a hand in the disaster to begin with) will look for someone to pin the blame on, regardless of whether the blamed party is truly responsible for the disaster in the first place. For example, they may choose a regular maintainence worker who worked around the plant as the guilty party and may even go so far as to come up with an elaborate story as to what supposedly "happened" as a result of the worker's "actions", from what they most likely did to make the accident happen to even falsifying witness reports that would make the worker look more guilty in the process. Basically, what happens is that the whole company, along with the people in the general public who eat the story the staff members create, will blame the worker for all the possible destruction, sickness and death that the accident may have/is causing, while anything the worker may have to say to the contrary will be either ignored completely or presented as lies in an effort to cover his tracks.