Cliches

I can't figure out which is more ridiculous: shooting the messenger or the use of a scapegoat.

Either way, I think it's absolutely wonderful that people once did actually shoot messengers for bringing bad news and someone had to come up with the idea NOT to shoot the messenger.

And I wonder if anyone had any guilt over killing a perfectly innocent creature, in this case a goat, over one's sins. Or if they ever used a different animal and some village elder said, "It won't work. It has to be a goat, or the gods will still be angry."