From Absinthe to Algorithms: How Society Uses Blame to Mask Uncertainty

The piece traces a repeating pattern in which genuine social anxieties spark a scapegoat, who is then blamed and framed through shifting alliances and selective evidence—a process the author calls “stigma opportunity structures.” Using France’s absinthe ban as a historical example, it draws parallels to today’s scapegoating of social media’s impact on teen mental health and xenophobic reactions during the Covid-19 era, arguing that certainty about blame often outpaces evidence and that such blame can serve political and moral purposes rather than illuminate complex problems.