Blame

Consider this cover to The New York Times Magazine of October 5, 2014:

“Every hour, an Acre of Louisiana Sinks Into the Sea.  Who is to Blame?” As intriguing as the title is, what irritates me is the question, ‘Who is to blame?’  Is it necessary to look for ‘blame’ at the outset of nearly every issue that comes before the public?  Could we not approach things with something like, ‘How is this affecting people? or ‘Has this been going on for long? or ‘What seems to be causing this to happen? or ‘What needs to be done or can be done about the situation?’ or ‘Is this as bad as it sounds?’

 

Blaming, pointing fingers, affixing guilt, assuming that identifying a single cause or person or entity will absolve everyone else (including the blamer) of culpability seems to be the modus operandi of many journalists, television ‘personalities,’ politicians, criminal justice, and,  of course, the law profession.  Accusation, right off the bat, has taken the place of civil dialogue and debate. 

 

I read the article about Louisiana and sure enough, an ‘investigator’ was quick to file a lawsuit against the oil and gas industry.  Never mind that many disparate entities (farms, levees, population growth, dams, canals, shipping, vagaries of weather and climate change, as well as oil and gas) each contributes(ed)  to the situation, someone needed to be blamed.  Surely money could be made from somebody’s conviction!  Witness how much money in legal fees and fines were made from BP’s conviction in the oil eruption in the Gulf! Let’s get in on the act!

Practically every aspect of Louisiana’s economy is/has been affected by the oil industry, but let’s now ‘bite the hand that feeds us’—it still has some blood left.

It reminds me of the incident in the Bible where the woman who was caught in adultery was brought before Jesus to get his opinion on the matter.  Of course nothing was said by the accusers about the man who was involved with the woman, or the mutual consent, or the probable intrusion upon the privacy or property of the accused or her paramour, the accusers wanted her stoned—they wanted blood.  They also wanted Jesus’ blood.  Jesus in reply said those memorable words, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience [departed]” (John 8:3-11).

In the milieu of our present society ‘conscience’ (even the scribes--lawyers--and  Pharisees, at this Biblical time, had a conviction of conscience)  has practically been silenced in favor of shifting the blame. 

   

My view is, let us not be so adversarial in our common interactions with each other.  Let us look for solutions to problems rather than a scape-goat, or someone else to blame; for more often than not we, too, if we honestly look inward, may have contributed to a problem or been somewhat less than perfect.  Let us take responsibility for our own actions rather than immediately looking for someone to blame. Let us take the 'beam' out of our own eye before we consider the 'mote' in our brother's eye.