The blame game

[TylerM4]

What can we as individuals do to stop the blame game?

You've all seen it. It manifests daily on these forums and in the media in ways such as "xxx should be illegal/banned". "RCMP are picking on my family member". One of my personal favorites is "McDonalds should be forced to sell healthy food". I managed a McDonalds restaurant for a few years and watched McDonalds try numerous healthy options - none of them sold!

All of this manifests from a single core problem - Much of our society doesn't want to take responsibility for their decisions. Participating in risky behavior/sports will eventually lead to harm/injury. Breaking the law will get you in trouble with RCMP. Eating unhealthy foods makes you fat and unhealthy. Everyone knows this but some choose to do it anyway and want someone else to be at fault when the consequences catch up with them.

So back to the original question. What can we do as individuals to help correct the course?

[zoo]

Great discussion and more people are asking this of themselves everyday.
Starting in school, direct lessons, at home, in the media, everyday social activities. These are all obvious places that we could teach people right from wrong, etc.
But now the cold hard truth. We cant, we have passed the threshold of return.
Its been ingrained, brainwashed, and now used by millions for power, "coping out" of responsibility, justification of failure and laziness. Too many people blame everyone else for their own failures.
Its become to powerful of a tool in these peoples arsenal to ever fix it.
They are too powerful, everyone has to listen to them, comfort theme, give to them.
The only thing for the others to do is to stay clear of these people. Stop watching the news. Do not get involved (you cant help).
These people through out our society will destroy every aspect of our society, much like we are witnessing every single day.
cheers.

[Lady tehMa]

We teach our children responsibililty, with consequences.

There is a gap now, where the bulk have dropped parenting in favour of being "friends" with their kids. There are no consequences, nothing is their fault. There is no responsibility.

And now, how do we teach them at this late in the game to have responsibility? No one actually wants it, it is a burden. Much easier to walk away and let someone else clean up their mess - after all that is how their parents operated.

We are in the decline of civilization.

[Grandan]

What can we as individuals do to stop the blame game?

You've all seen it. It manifests daily on these forums and in the media in ways such as "xxx should be illegal/banned". "RCMP are picking on my family member". One of my personal favorites is "McDonalds should be forced to sell healthy food". I managed a McDonalds restaurant for a few years and watched McDonalds try numerous healthy options - none of them sold!

All of this manifests from a single core problem - Much of our society doesn't want to take responsibility for their decisions. Participating in risky behavior/sports will eventually lead to harm/injury. Breaking the law will get you in trouble with RCMP. Eating unhealthy foods makes you fat and unhealthy. Everyone knows this but some choose to do it anyway and want someone else to be at fault when the consequences catch up with them.

So back to the original question. What can we do as individuals to help correct the course?

Most of these people come from the school of "it can't happen to me"or "I'm an exception because all these other people are idiots" .
Unless as you recognize yourself in all those other people out there you are doomed to follow in their footsteps.
When you see the guy at McD that looks like you don't want to look you need to turn around and leave.
I was too zesty with the accelerator and got 1 speeding ticket in my life, that was enough to slow me down but for the denier it is someone's fault not my own, such as "everyone else was going as fast as me so why did he pick me?"
That goes for the statistician that tore off my drivers side rear view mirror while texting as he drove past me while I was parked on the side of the road. Maybe because he knows how the numbers work he thought he could dodge the inevitable?
I think that leaning to accept and follow the rules is foremost in a civil society. If you want to push the boundaries do it through artistic expression or excel at work, not engage in high risk sports where death is the inevitable outcome and don't do stuff that is going to endanger the lives of innocent others.

[coffeeFreak]

This is a great quote that really makes a person think about the prevalence of "the passive construction" of language that removes responsibility from the doer.

[GordonH]

What can we as individuals do to stop the blame game?

You've all seen it. It manifests daily on these forums and in the media in ways such as "xxx should be illegal/banned". "RCMP are picking on my family member". One of my personal favorites is "McDonalds should be forced to sell healthy food". I managed a McDonalds restaurant for a few years and watched McDonalds try numerous healthy options - none of them sold!

All of this manifests from a single core problem - Much of our society doesn't want to take responsibility for their decisions. Participating in risky behavior/sports will eventually lead to harm/injury. Breaking the law will get you in trouble with RCMP. Eating unhealthy foods makes you fat and unhealthy. Everyone knows this but some choose to do it anyway and want someone else to be at fault when the consequences catch up with them.

So back to the original question. What can we do as individuals to help correct the course?

Have some bad news TylerM4, just can't fix stupid.

[liisgo]

This is a great quote that really makes a person think about the prevalence of "the passive construction" of language that removes responsibility from the doer.

we talk about sex assault.jpg

Even worse are the people like this that wrote this. Trying so desperately to establish that its only men and boys that are the bad people out there. Wake up, women do all the same horrible things that you only want to label men with. Why post this? why try so hard?

[my5cents]

This is a great quote [ we should name the number of perpetrators, not victims] that really makes a person think about the prevalence of "the passive construction" of language that removes responsibility from the doer.

we talk about sex assault.jpg

Think it through, though.

Let's say there is a prolific rapist or bank robber, burglar, whatever.

Do we say "How many bank robbers are there ?" Answer, one.

How many banks have been robbed in the last month ? Answer, five.

We count crimes, not accused.

[MAPearce]

What can we as individuals do to stop the blame game?

We start by "going back " ...

We go back to a time where parents were expected to be responsible for their children , We go back to a time when parents were ALLOWED parent without interference .. We go back to a time when ,as TehMa says responsibility with consequences , or consequences for lack thereof...

We go back to a time where everything isn't so offensive because "we" don't like it .. We go back to a time where "we" don't expect the government to fix or provide EVERYTHING "we" think is broken or deserved....We go back to a time where things were earned and respected

We go back to a time where there wasn't a "therapist" for everything , including animal whispers ..We go back to a time where "therapy" was provided by family elders .

[Lady tehMa]

What can we as individuals do to stop the blame game?

We start by "going back " ...

We go back to a time where parents were expected to be responsible for their children , We go back to a time when parents were ALLOWED parent without interference .. We go back to a time when ,as TehMa says responsibility with consequences , or consequences for lack thereof...

We go back to a time where everything isn't so offensive because "we" don't like it .. We go back to a time where "we" don't expect the government to fix or provide EVERYTHING "we" think is broken or deserve....We go back to a time where things were earned and respected

We go back to a time where the wasn't a "therapist" for everything , including animal whispers ..We go back to a time where "therapy" was provided by family elders .

Bravo!

[coffeeFreak]

This is a great quote that really makes a person think about the prevalence of "the passive construction" of language that removes responsibility from the doer.

we talk about sex assault.jpg

Even worse are the people like this that wrote this. Trying so desperately to establish that its only men and boys that are the bad people out there. Wake up, women do all the same horrible things that you only want to label men with. Why post this? why try so hard?

liisgo: Please read my quote that you copied into your post without the defensiveness. The point I was trying to make was, our language is riddled with comments that removes the responsibility from the perpetrator, thus removing responsibility of the action (whatever that action may be). Comments such as, a bank was robbed, a man was shot, a dog was kicked, are all in a passive voice, which means the subject of the sentence has an action done to it by someone or something else, rather than the doer (man or woman) of the action being named and held accountable.

[youjustcomplain]

We teach our children responsibililty, with consequences.

There is a gap now, where the bulk have dropped parenting in favour of being "friends" with their kids. There are no consequences, nothing is their fault. There is no responsibility.

And now, how do we teach them at this late in the game to have responsibility? No one actually wants it, it is a burden. Much easier to walk away and let someone else clean up their mess - after all that is how their parents operated.

We are in the decline of civilization.

You're continuing the blame game though. Your second line has you blaming parents. Then you go on to blame individuals for not wanting responsibility. I just find it interesting that the blame game thread has people replying with blame.

[Omnitheo]

People are fallible. Always have been, always will be. The difference is now people have a voice, and can spread it. Before people had a place. Serfs, farming for their lord. Members of a caste system with no avenue to challenge the way of things.

This is different now. But also thanks to our new capitalistic society, fueled with science of psychology, we live in a world where we can be prayed upon by business, advertising, etc. Companies, politicians, cults have found dramatically more efficient and effective ways to take advantage of the fallibility of people.

The fact is people just aren’t as unique and individualistic or intelligent as they believe themselves to be. Every day you are subject to subliminal messaging, down to the colours used in fast food advertising, to manipulate you. And it works.

People will make mistakes, as we do. But society can help mitigate them. Take roads for instance. People can drive off roads. A poorly engineered road increases the chances of this. Sure you could say it’s the drivers fault for not being more careful, but we can also understand that a sharp corner on a cliff side with poor lighting doesn’t particularly help compensate for human error. So we engineer roads better. Better signage. Better gradients, curves in the road that slant to aid in turning.

It’s important to recognize where we as humans have weakness, failings, and to do something to compensate for those, instead of take advantage of them.

[Lady tehMa]

People are fallible. Always have been, always will be. The difference is now people have a voice, and can spread it. Before people had a place. Serfs, farming for their lord. Members of a caste system with no avenue to challenge the way of things.

This is different now. But also thanks to our new capitalistic society, fueled with science of psychology, we live in a world where we can be prayed upon by business, advertising, etc. Companies, politicians, cults have found dramatically more efficient and effective ways to take advantage of the fallibility of people.

The fact is people just aren’t as unique and individualistic or intelligent as they believe themselves to be. Every day you are subject to subliminal messaging, down to the colours used in fast food advertising, to manipulate you. And it works.

People will make mistakes, as we do. But society can help mitigate them. Take roads for instance. People can drive off roads. A poorly engineered road increases the chances of this. Sure you could say it’s the drivers fault for not being more careful, but we can also understand that a sharp corner on a cliff side with poor lighting doesn’t particularly help compensate for human error. So we engineer roads better. Better signage. Better gradients, curves in the road that slant to aid in turning.

It’s important to recognize where we as humans have weakness, failings, and to do something to compensate for those, instead of take advantage of them.

Humans do have weaknesses - the important thing though is to recognize that for ourselves, and take responsibility for our actions.

@ youjustcomplain - perhaps I was assigning blame. Or perhaps I was exploring reasons for a phenomenon.

The question comes down to the individual - do you take responsibility for your own actions? Or do you blame others for things that happened as a result of your own actions?

It's also important to realize the world is not fair. Sometimes things happen, and you just have to get up and move on. Too many people though, decide to sit and tantrum and demand that others fix the situation they found themselves in.

[zoo]

People are fallible. Always have been, always will be. The difference is now people have a voice, and can spread it. Before people had a place. Serfs, farming for their lord. Members of a caste system with no avenue to challenge the way of things.

This is different now. But also thanks to our new capitalistic society, fueled with science of psychology, we live in a world where we can be prayed upon by business, advertising, etc. Companies, politicians, cults have found dramatically more efficient and effective ways to take advantage of the fallibility of people.

The fact is people just aren’t as unique and individualistic or intelligent as they believe themselves to be. Every day you are subject to subliminal messaging, down to the colours used in fast food advertising, to manipulate you. And it works.

People will make mistakes, as we do. But society can help mitigate them. Take roads for instance. People can drive off roads. A poorly engineered road increases the chances of this. Sure you could say it’s the drivers fault for not being more careful, but we can also understand that a sharp corner on a cliff side with poor lighting doesn’t particularly help compensate for human error. So we engineer roads better. Better signage. Better gradients, curves in the road that slant to aid in turning.

It’s important to recognize where we as humans have weakness, failings, and to do something to compensate for those, instead of take advantage of them.

Excellent post.
The driving force behind our social issue's today. The brainwashing, manipulation of almost everyone. Race, gender, religous background, what ever. People have been given a vehicle to drive that almost will drive for you, guide you, make decisions for you and when something goes wrong you can blame the maker,(Talking about our actions and behaviors not an actual car).
Question is where do we go from here. Can we change from it. No, its gotten to strong and far too many people have become dependent on the force and power of it.