Projection

Psychology Today has an unofficial definition for the term projection — “attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another.” ( Source)

In recent times, I’ve been noticing a great deal of projection going on in the public sphere. I’ve heard politicians and other public figures project onto opponents the very things that these folks are guilty of. A book I’m reading has given example after example of religious people who have done the exact same thing. It’s also popular to do on social media too.

Projection is all the rage apparently. It’s caused me to be more intentional in listening to statements made by folks, especially those in positions of power. Projection never comes across in a positive way — as in projecting stability and happiness. Rather, what is projected are those unacceptable things from within ourselves and attributing them to our target. People are really good at projecting all sorts of things onto others — violent intent, lies, dubious efforts, corruption, claims of intolerance, phobias, fears, anger, chaos, lacking a backbone, etc.

I’ve now started to listen a bit differently to public figures and what they are really saying when they are critical of someone they have deemed as their opponent. It has me wondering how much of what is being said is a projection from the speaker onto someone else.

Projection is a way of scapegoating — thrusting our own sins onto someone else to be sacrificed and dehumanized. When we scapegoat, we get to claim that we are innocent and that the target of the…