Learning to Blame

‘Praise’ is generally well liked.  But ‘blame’ gets a bad press.

Nobody takes kindly to ‘blame culture’, or ‘blame game’.  Everyone is warned about ‘not throwing stones in glass houses’, or ‘casting the first stone when one is not without sin’.

 

Of course, blaming others unjustly, incorrectly, or hypocritically deserves censure. Yet it is vital to understand where blame should go for the harm and danger we encounter.  If we routinely fail to identify the real causes of different problems that come our way, we won’t be able to deal with them or avoid further losses and sufferings.

 

Think of problems such as diseases, earthquakes, floods, that had been erroneously blamed on supernatural or magical forces.  Not only did laying blame in the wrong direction divert attention from the actual source of harm, it led to further mistakes like callous and futile sacrifices to imaginary beings.  Through scientific advancement we are able to determine what should really be blamed and how they could be averted. Unfortunately, many are still too easily misled about threats from climate change to vaccine rejection.

 

In human relations, inherited prejudices and lack of wide-ranging interpersonal experiences can make people susceptible to overlook blame that should be ascribed to culprits such as exploitative employment practices and plutocratic policies (which cause deprivation and marginalisation), and channel it instead towards misconceived targets such as immigration or multiculturalism.  There should be outrage against injustice, but anger bred from blind hatred against scapegoats must not be tolerated.

 

Without forensic examination, criminal trials can become farcical with innocent people being blamed for offences they have nothing to do with, while the guilty ones walk free because there is no process to connect the evidence of their wrongdoing to any police or court action.  It is a mark of arbitrary rule everywhere that the objective analysis of evidence is jettisoned in favour of autocratic judgements.

 

Last but not least, institutional arrangements to secure accountability are essential for establishing who are assigned the power and responsibility to act on behalf of all members of the institution in question (e.g., a company, a trade union, a country), and what credit or blame is to be apportioned to their actions. Blaming leaders when they deserve praise is as bad as backing those who ought to be chastised or removed for inexcusable transgression.  

 

Blame is not something we should shy away from attributing – so long as we do so on the basis of careful, systematic, and objective examination.  And that requires learning.  Education at all levels should enhance our understanding of how scientific research, behavioural psychology, forensic techniques, institutional accountability, help to pinpoint blame for the things we want to avoid.  

 

Blaming the innocent is unjust.  Never blaming the real culprit is folly.

The Sleaze of a Clown

Bullies like to taunt others and then dismiss their complaints as signs that they are not able to take a joke.  Soon the ‘jokes’ turn into intimidation and aggression, and if the bullies can continue to get away with their appalling behaviour, life would just get worse for everyone.

In politics, bullying becomes the default when those in power can get away with whatever they do.  Boris Johnson hides behind a façade of jokiness and pretends any transgression he may have committed in words or deeds should not be taken seriously. But that is the crux of the matter.  If we do not hold him to account for his wrongdoing, it would just confirm for him that the public are irrelevant.

 

The mounting allegations of sleaze against him and the government ministers he protects would suggest that the only accountability he cares about is that to those rich enough to give him large political donations when he is in office, and lucrative positions when he leaves.  To that end, he and those under his patronage would not hesitate to hand out public money to whomever they please, take funds from donors in return for favours, help the wealthy avoid costs other citizens would have to bear, or grant access to the privileged few while denying ordinary people and businesses even a courtesy response to their queries.

 

Of course, Johnson would reject that he has ever done anything wrong, and all the allegations are unfounded.  He might go so far as to preside over all investigations and declare that he would personally decide if he or any of his Cabinet members is guilty of any corrupt practice.

 

For all we know, he might even take his latest flag-fetishism to the next level and insist that any criticism of him and his government is unpatriotic because it damages the reputation of the country.  With the support of the Johnson-backing media, those who press for a thorough investigation of the many suspicious deals and transactions would be dismissed as whinging about nothing.

 

However, to meekly submit to political bullies is to go down the one-way street to arbitrary rule.  We are at a critical junction, and we must not allow him to be emboldened in disregarding the public’s views in what he does.

 

At present, he is riding high by taking credit for the dedication and achievements of university researchers and the NHS, but in reality, he is continuing to underfund their work, and furthermore, he has substituted transparent governance by secretive moves that appear to serve only him and his wealthy supporters.

 

We must not shrug off the charges of wrongdoing as though a joker should not be taken too seriously.  Sometimes, the most unscrupulous leader lurks behind the face of a clown.

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For a helpful summary of Johnson’s scandalous behaviour, see: 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/30/scandal-charge-sheet-johnson-wallpaper-lying