Few things are more irresponsible than using the wrongs of the past as an excuse for being irresponsible. Painfully, this has become commonplace in the United States and France. And it pains me enormously that President Barack Obama mightily invokes this line of thought. To hear him speak, the only reason why people are suffering is that others are to blame for not doing their share to help those in need. There is very little if any irresponsibility at on the part of those suffering. We have here an instance of Creative Blame on Obama’s part.
So if President Obama is right, then black-on-black crime in the Hood is to be blamed on none other than the fact that others are not doing their part to help those in need in the Hood. Needless to say, this line of thought is utterly preposterous; and while it may to blacks as addressing the wrongs of racism, what Obama’s reasoning also does is mightily diminish the conception of blacks as responsible human beings. One does not need a Ph.D. in psychology (or some other field) in order to grasp this very simple point. Again, what we have here is Creative Blame.
Most profoundly, it is not impossible to help an individual by entirely denying that her or his role to be a responsible person. And this point applies equally and with prejudice to all individuals regardless of their skin color, ethnic identity, their gender, or their sexual orientation.
Some people are gifted at taking themselves in a morally responsible manner. They are likely to take act in a responsible manner even if no one else expects them to do so. I know a few people like that.
Unfortunately, most individuals are fundamentally social creatures in that precisely what motivates them to act responsibly is that this person and that person and the other person expect them to act responsibly.
Without a doubt wrongdoings should be acknowledged. But the acknowledgement of wrongdoings should not be aligned with the idea that people are thus justified in being irresponsible. There is little doubt that Obama is making precisely such an alignment. His silence on black-on-black crime suffices to underscore my point. For if blacks do not take responsibility for themselves and making a decision to act in a morally responsible manner, then the Hood will in effect go to hell in a hand basket. And since Obama lived in the city of Chicago for a substantial period of his life, there can be no doubt whatsoever that he is well aware of the problem of black-on-black crime.
One of the defining of features of a human being is the capacity for foresight. What is foresight? It is none other than the capacity to make reasonable extrapolations regarding what will happen with future interaction and behavior based upon the facts that one has at one’s disposal.
Quite simply, then, Creative Blame is effectively undermining the exercise of foresight. If I can blame you for my ordering two Big Macs each day at McDonald’s, then why bother exercising the basic degree of foresight that consists in recognizing the obvious truth that consuming two Big Macs a day will result in a substantial weight gain.
If I am on a limited income, then I most certainly cannot afford designer jeans. But why should I let my limited income get in the way of my going into debt to by designer jeans, if I can blame others for the fact that I am not well off.
One of the defining features of being a human being is the wherewithal of an individual to take stock of her or his life and to make the reinforcements or revisions that are appropriate. Not surprisingly, Creative Blame radically undermines the wherewithal or, at any rate, the motivations of a person to take stock of her or his life.
In Living Morally, I begin with the observation that human beings are quintessentially social creatures. This means that in one way or the other we are quite influenced by the behavior of others that take place around us. Alas, if most of that behavior is negative and irresponsible, than most individuals will in fact drift in that direction and there will be a few who will mightily reinforce their commitment to do what is right.
In the end, Creative Blame will destroy the good of human society as we know it. For it is a defining feature of human beings that unless an excellence is routinely reinforce it will be lost. Taking responsibility for our actions is an excellence. Increasingly, that is what people simply fail to do in a manner that is akin to a deer staring in the headlights. Given the present trajectory of Creative Blame, it is just a matter of time before the very idea of individuals being responsible for their very own lives will have no purchase at all upon our lives. “Ridiculous”, you say. Well, just look at how irresponsible human beings have become in the last 10 years owing to the ridiculous use of technology. Any reasonable extrapolation from that reality portends an outcome for the social embodiment of Creative Blame that simply cannot bode well for the future of humanity.
© 2011 Laurence Thomas




