And unlike in the beloved mobile game “Among Us,” we’re not talking about a suspicious cartoon character in a spacesuit. In the game, players must discover who is the secret “impostor” sabotaging and killing members on their spaceship via intensive in-game questioning — which can often involve lying and blaming. But when these tactics of sabotage and interrogation are used in the real world, this game becomes warped: suddenly, it doesn’t matter who the imposter is at all, but rather the fact that we always find one to blame.

You’ve likely witnessed the endless blaming and name-calling from all sides after the 2020 election. We’ve been flooded with political finger-pointing, and there always seems to be a new person to hold responsible for all our troubles. Sometimes it feels like it doesn’t even matter if that person actually did something wrong. There are those who simply revel in the condemnation, instead of the truth.  

In an article discussing the psychology of “Among Us,” EduAdvisor describes a process that seems eerily similar to some recent political tactics. 

“In order for you to win, you need to find someone you can easily shift the blame to,” the article states. “How do you find the perfect scapegoat? Well, according to social psychology, humans have a tendency to shift blame to others and the scapegoats are often outliers … Make sure to target people who don’t easily fight back.”

This trend of scapegoating stretches across history and is prevalent within our current circumstances. It tears us apart at the seams by pinning blame on one individual or group, instead of bringing us together as one. 

So to our readers, our community and our very nation: we urge you, reserve the constant blaming and scapegoating to the games. Let’s transcend the slander of “red” and “blue” animated spacemen so that the question we’re asking isn’t who the imposter is, but why we need one in the first place.