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/
   • Insights with Rene Girard  
https://vimeo.com/123072513
http://180rule.com/rene-girards-mimet...
https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/...

Waiting For The Barbarians by C. P. Cavafy
http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.a...

RESEARCH

Orgins Of The Modern Mind: Three Stages In The Evolution Of Culture And Cognition by Merlin Donald
http://cognitrn.psych.indiana.edu/bus...

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

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

ASSET CREDITS

René Girard Interview by Rev Dr Steven E Berry
   • Rene Girard on Peter's Denial  
   • Rene Girard Interviews 2.wmv  

CARTA: Is the Human Mind Unique? -- Merlin Donald: Skilled Performance and Artistry by UCTV
   • CARTA:  Is the Human Mind Unique? -- ...  

Dodson’s Hollywood Monkey Stars by Chevrolet News Newsreel
   • Video  

Maltese Dog Dancing And Eating An Orange by Gerardo Camba
   • Maltese dog dancing and eating an orange  

Experiments with chimpanzees, works of N. Ladygina-Kohts
   • Experiments with chimpanzees, works o...  

YOUTUBERS

Ethan - h3h3Productions
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Destin - Smarter Every Day
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Lex - MadeYewLook
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Austin Evans
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Mary Doodles
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Dianna - Physics Girl
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Derek - Veritasium
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Jake - Vsauce3
   / vsauce3  

Michael - Vsauce1
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VSAUCE CREDITS

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

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

VFX by Eric Langlay
   / ericlanglay  

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

Select Music by Jake Chudnow
   / jakechudnow  

Special Thanks Paula Lieber
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Special Thanks Andrew Meltzoff, Ph.D.
http://ilabs.uw.edu/institute-faculty...

Special Thanks Dr. Richard J. Golsan
http://glasscock.tamu.edu/about-us/gl...

Vsauce2 Links
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Facebook:   / vsaucetwo  
Website: http://www.Vsauce.com

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

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