is now a good time to stop playing the blame game?
Is now a good time to stop playing the blame game?
Everywhere I look on the news/in social media, people are finding someone to blame. Somewhere to point fingers.
I’m speaking specifically of the recent election results, Trump’s surprising defeat of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. Blame the DNC. Blame 3rd party voters. Blame racists. Blame the media.
And then I’m also referring more broadly to any of the economic and social problems facing us as a country, but even more widely, us as a human community. Blame the President. Blame the decisions made by past leaders or past generations. Blame poverty. Blame race. Blame economic status. Blame the grand conspiracy. Blame the New World Order.
In theory, finding someone or something to blame is the first step towards rectifying and improving the Problem. But if feels like we are spending WAY too much energy on that first step and not nearly enough on what follows: the Solution.
Maybe this is a good time to look inwards at where our own responsibility lies. And maybe we are not responsible for some of these things, but we want to work on the Solution anyway, for the benefit of the whole.
If my kids have an argument arise between them, I encourage them to take responsibility for their part in the situation. I am willing to do the same.
Also, I am willing to get down off my high horse. I recognize I do not have a monopoly on facts and righteousness. I have changed my opinions about things many times in the past and I will again. I love to change an opinion in fact. Because that means the new one feels better, feels more right. And that is very satisfying.
Is blame an means to an end? What is next? Honk at us,
10 comments on “is now a good time to stop playing the blame game?”
Honk at me:
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The Honking Goose 
I think there’s a whole lot of blame to go around.
But mostly during this election we didn’t talk to each other. We didn’t try to convince each other.
I’m guilty as hell of it. One brother, one nephew were Trump supporters. I couldn’t speak to either of them. Maybe I might have convinced my nephew (my brother is a hater).
In fact, I did phone banking for Clinton, as I have for many years. We called only Democrats. We didn’t reach out to anyone else.
But still, I will blame James Comey.
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I don’t know whether or not the solution can be done but I think I know what it is: we need a real Left, not the kind that sends countless e-mails asking for contributions but the kind that that organizes action. Boycotts, demonstations, various forms of what has been called civil disobedience would all help. But we have to be willing to get jailed beaten and possibly killed. I think that it makes me feel weak to think about it, but I know that it made me feel lots better when I was younger.
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I’m not sure. Seeing video footage of the massive demonstrations in cities around the country (okay, pretty much just on the coasts) gave me a lot of mixed feeling and a lot of perspectives to think about.
To start with, I think it is essential we continue to use our freedom of speech and peaceful protest to let voices of dissent be heard. Then I think about how that video footage will be perceived by people around the world. They might see some very strong similarities between our nation and their own through that lens. I don’t know if that is good or bad or neutral, I really don’t.
And then I know too that though Clinton won the popular vote, the country was very much almost evenly split along those lines drawn. And there are masses of people on both sides who feel disenfranchised and marginalized. Those are FEELINGS though. And then there is the reality of who and what is realistically and tangibly disenfranchised and marginalized which might be a different group than those who FEEL that way.
So to have Unity or at least a tolerable Compromise and Agreement to Live Next to Each Other under the same government, well, we have to take a long hard look at both realities, and feelings, on both sides. And work out where we want to go next.
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We blame because we don’t want to admit our role. If we take responsibility, then the next logical step is to do our part to fix the situation. When we blame we give up our power. It’s like a problem of which we are unaware. We cannot fix anything if we don’t recognize there is a problem.
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That is actually a really good point you bring up. Maybe it is a difficulty in seeing a path towards a solution or where our part is in “fixing a problem” – perhaps that is why it is so easy to get stuck on the blame/responsibility step.
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Everyone is always so quick to place blame, no-one ever wants to accept responsibility for when things go wrong. It’s a shame really, because it’s actually a great way of learning. I’m 29 years old and I still make mistakes and I am happy to hold my hands up and accept criticism, advice…and if something were to really go wrong then I would hold my hands up! Things just get so negative when blame is thrown around!
Thanks for sharing these words.Got me really thinking…
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It must be very much in our human nature to want to deflect responsibility and blame others or outside circumstances. And I think there is a lot to be said for “good parenting” for isn’t that where most of us learn our sense of responsibility and respect/empathy for others?
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i agree we should not seek to blame, but we must seek to understand. If we understand the why and the wherefores, then we know what we are up against and how serious it is or could be. If we just seek to blame then that is shifting all responsibility from us to our scapegoats, and will not get us anywhere
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Yes. That is the crucial difference.
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Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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