Well, who's to BLAME???

December 9th 2005

Am I alone in cringing when hearing a news journalist pursuing some hapless interviewee with the insistent: 'Yes, but who's to blame?', following some disaster, whether natural, accidental or just human error. Of course, somebody has to be named. The media will not be happy until its scapegoat can be found.

For a start, playing the 'Hunt the Scapegoat' is a feature of dysfunctional families. And look at the ways in which the culture of blame renders society dysfunctional ...

Nobody wants to be blamed; lots of paperwork therefore needs to be produced to show that the responsibility for whatever it was cannot be laid at MY door. How much time and energy goes into this? Time and energy which could actually be usefully spent?

And for the blamer - yes, somebody else has successfully been blamed! I didn't look where I was going, fell over, and now I can screw some compensation from, say, the local authority. Yes, this will induce a transitory sense of triumph. But what are the effects of this kind of culture? Insurance premiums become prohibitively expensive; kids lead restricted lives because their teachers dare not take them anywhere risky; people who have suffered some kind of loss do not grieve and move on because they are so busy persecuting the scapegoat; areas of social functioning are tied up with so much regulation that they cannot function ... and the whole of society pays for it both directly and indirectly.

But what of the 'successful' blamer? By putting the responsibility for my own actions at somebody else's door, I am relinquishing my own power and potential for change. On some level, I am rendering myself helpless. Since when has this attitude really benefited anybody?

So, media, please stop blaming - so that I can stop cringing. And, no, I don't blame the media, who are after all just one aspect of an entire system. However, the media are perhaps uniquely placed to reverse this unhelpful, damaging trend ...

CAS