What does 把帽子全扣我头上 mean?

Question

Fascinatingly, Wikipedia author 折毛 somehow managed to fabricate large numbers of Chinese Wikipedia pages about Russian history etc.. However, I'm a bit confused about this part of her apology letter:

那些打算把帽子全扣我头上的，问问你们自己，我从2010年开始编假清史，突然间编假日本史，再魔征起来编古罗斯史，12年来不求名不求利，自我COSPLAY十几个身份，以一人之力改出这种比我自己的条目还要多的破坏，可能吗？我还提名过某人获得古罗斯拓荒贡献，他建立的相关条目比我还多，是不是也要把他算作是我？

My reading of 把帽子全扣我头上 is that it's a saying which refers to psychological projection: they are putting their own hats on someone else's head. Although the title of this article includes 把出轨帽子扣我头上, which suggests it means something like "shift the blame", but that doesn't seem appropriate in an apology letter. It's not like there's anyone else who can be blamed for her fabricating Wikipedia pages for years. Maybe it's "ascribe blame".

Question: What does 把帽子全扣我头上 mean?

Answer 1

扣帽子 means "put labels on(someone)"

It can be as serious as labeling someone as 卖国贼(traitor to the nation --> need to be destroyed) or minor things like 媚外 (flattery to foreigners --> need to be re-educated)

Being 扣帽子 by the public is bad enough, if it was the authority 扣你帽子 for a serious crime, a criminal charge would certainly come along with it. Therefore, 扣帽子 is indeed a term for "冠(加)罪狀, 是一種政治鬥爭手段用以打擊對手" orginally.

把帽子全扣我头上 -- put all the (bad) labels on me

反革命分子 (counter-revolutionaries)and 走资派 (capitalist) were once popular 'hats' to put on political enemies

Some other examples:

The labels said "土豪劣绅" (local tyrants and evil gentry) 貪宮污吏 (corrupt government official)- no need for a specific charge to destroy someone

Answer 2

扣帽子 = 冠(加)罪狀, 是一種政治鬥爭手段用以打擊對手. https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%89%A3%E5%B8%BD%E5%AD%90/7154156

把帽子全扣我头上 = place all accusations/guilts on me (no matter true or false).

Answer 3

把出轨帽子扣我头上

It means I'm said to be responsible/wrong for being the one who 出轨(betray the marriage).

As for 帽子扣, I think it's meanly about (being said)having the responsibility of something bad.

那些打算把帽子全扣我头上的

So this sentence means along the lines of those who would put all the responsibility on me. In other words, those people think I should take all the responsibility for the consequences. So to speak, it's all your fault.

Answer 4

Normally, 扣帽子 on somebody means someone blames you with something you haven't done, but the context is more complicated.

帽子 in 扣帽子 is usually an unwarranted charge, means somebody put an unwarranted charge on you.

eg:

你凭什么给我扣帽子？

Why do you blame me with something I haven't done?

However, 扣帽子 is not the same as wronging someone (冤枉). 扣帽子 means that this person is deliberately embarrassing you, so you have every right to be mad at him.

So, 把帽子全扣我头上 is to put the blame entirely on me and sometimes to prove his/her innocence.

As to 折毛's apology letter

She mainly wants to show that she made a mistake, but she doesn't think she has that much influence to cause the current situation by her alone. She believes that we should treat the matter as it is, and should not blame all the faults on her.

This sentence is not in the apology letter. In fact, this sentence is a response to the overwhelming abuse of netizens.