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responsibility rant
Aug. 20th, 2002 11:44 amI posted this rant on a list and then figured I might as well post it here too, with some editing.
It all started because of two recent news stories. The first, which I probably posted about here (but I'm too lazy to check, or to dig up a URL), was about a doctor who left the OR during an operation and went to the bank to deposit his paycheck (leaving the patient under anesthesia with his back cut open, and the nurses standing around wondering what the hell was going on). The second happened just yesterday and was about a guy who snuck into the home of a "friend", kidnapped the friend's 11-year-old daughter, took her to the backyard, and raped her and beat her with a hammer. He now claims that he blacked out and has no memory of the crimes.
Okay, maybe this blackout excuse is actually true, but it just sounds to me a lot like grasping at straws, trying to duck the blame in any way possible. You hear that kind of thing all the time -- "I was drunk," "I had a blackout," "I wasn't myself," "I was temporarily insane." I'm sure there are cases when this is actually a true and valid defense, but there just seem to be a lot more cases where it's just an excuse to get out of punishment. The doctor's excuse was equally lame -- he was having "financial problems" and the operation went later than he had expected and he was worried that the bank would close. (He allegedly was surprised when he got back and everyone demanded to know where the hell he had been.)
I just feel like incidents like these are happening more and more often -- incidents that demonstrate a separation from reality on the part of the perpetrator. Call me crazy, but I think too many people these days are unable to really internalize the notion of being responsible for their actions. The sense of personal responsibility, the sense that anything you do is on you and any consequences are yours to bear -- that it's your moral duty to bear the consequences -- just isn't there. We see this in the actions of the CEOs in the Enron case and similar cases. We see it in the actions of rapists/attempted-murders like this "blackout" guy, people who commit violent crimes and then claim all kinds of reasons why they weren't responsible for their actions. We see it in this doctor just abandoning his patient with no explanation and then acting all surprised when people got mad at him. We see it in the people suing McDonald's for their own obesity. We see it in the teenage girls dumping their babies in the trash.
Don't get me wrong, I have sympathy. I have tons of sympathy for the girls who are uneducated about pregnancy and who freak out when they find themselves pregnant. I have sympathy for people who have food issues and are fat because they have a compulsion to eat Big Macs. But that sympathy does not extend to excusing them from responsibility. Okay, you're young and stupid and you don't know that sex leads to babies. That's an excuse for getting pregnant. That's NOT an excuse for not telling anyone you're pregnant, and it sure as fuck isn't an excuse for MURDERING your baby after it's born. The responsibility for that is on you. Similarly, okay, you have emotional/psychological issues that make you eat more than is healthy and eat stuff that isn't healthy. That's an excuse for being fat. That's NOT an excuse for not doing anything about your fat, and it sure as fuck isn't an excuse for you to keep eating five Big Macs a day and then turn around and sue the company for your heart condition.*
And, of course, for the rapists and murderers, and the CEOs, I have very little sympathy, almost none. But you know, if any of the CEOs would step up and say, "yes, I did this, and I knew it was wrong, and I still know it was wrong, and I will accept whatever punishment is deemed appropriate," at least I could have a tiny bit of respect for that. It's when they hide behind walls of lawyers and loopholes in the law and the skirts of their political cronies that what I'm ranting about becomes apparent -- the lack of personal responsibility.
I honestly feel that it is epidemic in this country nowadays. People simply do not think that they have to take any responsibility for their actions. Maybe it's parents, not raising their kids right. (I could, and I bet many of us could, tell some horror stories about parents who don't discipline their kids when the kids misbehave.) Maybe it's the media, giving us more and more ideas about how to duck out of our responsibilities. Maybe it's the bloating and corporate-izing of US law, with more and more loopholes being found and exploited all over the place. Maybe it's the political system, where buying a senator (if you're a businessperson) or voting based on who's given you the most money (if you're a politician) is seen as an acceptable alternative to actually representing the people you're supposed to represent -- the constituents if you're a politician, the shareholders if you're a businessperson.
In short, I don't know why this has happened or (ironically) who/what to blame for it. I can only observe that it has happened/is happening, and that it disturbs me. A lot. And I sure as shit will be instilling a sense of personal responsibility in my kid(s) if/when I have them, anyone else's opinion be damned.
Whew! It's good to finally get that rant off my chest. Like I said, it's been building up for a while.
* Please don't jump on me about the fat thing. I know plenty of people who eat right, exercise, take care of themselves, and are still overweight. I'm not ragging on them. I'm only ragging on people who are fat and keep eating and never exercise, and then complain about how much their backs hurt, etc.
It all started because of two recent news stories. The first, which I probably posted about here (but I'm too lazy to check, or to dig up a URL), was about a doctor who left the OR during an operation and went to the bank to deposit his paycheck (leaving the patient under anesthesia with his back cut open, and the nurses standing around wondering what the hell was going on). The second happened just yesterday and was about a guy who snuck into the home of a "friend", kidnapped the friend's 11-year-old daughter, took her to the backyard, and raped her and beat her with a hammer. He now claims that he blacked out and has no memory of the crimes.
Okay, maybe this blackout excuse is actually true, but it just sounds to me a lot like grasping at straws, trying to duck the blame in any way possible. You hear that kind of thing all the time -- "I was drunk," "I had a blackout," "I wasn't myself," "I was temporarily insane." I'm sure there are cases when this is actually a true and valid defense, but there just seem to be a lot more cases where it's just an excuse to get out of punishment. The doctor's excuse was equally lame -- he was having "financial problems" and the operation went later than he had expected and he was worried that the bank would close. (He allegedly was surprised when he got back and everyone demanded to know where the hell he had been.)
I just feel like incidents like these are happening more and more often -- incidents that demonstrate a separation from reality on the part of the perpetrator. Call me crazy, but I think too many people these days are unable to really internalize the notion of being responsible for their actions. The sense of personal responsibility, the sense that anything you do is on you and any consequences are yours to bear -- that it's your moral duty to bear the consequences -- just isn't there. We see this in the actions of the CEOs in the Enron case and similar cases. We see it in the actions of rapists/attempted-murders like this "blackout" guy, people who commit violent crimes and then claim all kinds of reasons why they weren't responsible for their actions. We see it in this doctor just abandoning his patient with no explanation and then acting all surprised when people got mad at him. We see it in the people suing McDonald's for their own obesity. We see it in the teenage girls dumping their babies in the trash.
Don't get me wrong, I have sympathy. I have tons of sympathy for the girls who are uneducated about pregnancy and who freak out when they find themselves pregnant. I have sympathy for people who have food issues and are fat because they have a compulsion to eat Big Macs. But that sympathy does not extend to excusing them from responsibility. Okay, you're young and stupid and you don't know that sex leads to babies. That's an excuse for getting pregnant. That's NOT an excuse for not telling anyone you're pregnant, and it sure as fuck isn't an excuse for MURDERING your baby after it's born. The responsibility for that is on you. Similarly, okay, you have emotional/psychological issues that make you eat more than is healthy and eat stuff that isn't healthy. That's an excuse for being fat. That's NOT an excuse for not doing anything about your fat, and it sure as fuck isn't an excuse for you to keep eating five Big Macs a day and then turn around and sue the company for your heart condition.*
And, of course, for the rapists and murderers, and the CEOs, I have very little sympathy, almost none. But you know, if any of the CEOs would step up and say, "yes, I did this, and I knew it was wrong, and I still know it was wrong, and I will accept whatever punishment is deemed appropriate," at least I could have a tiny bit of respect for that. It's when they hide behind walls of lawyers and loopholes in the law and the skirts of their political cronies that what I'm ranting about becomes apparent -- the lack of personal responsibility.
I honestly feel that it is epidemic in this country nowadays. People simply do not think that they have to take any responsibility for their actions. Maybe it's parents, not raising their kids right. (I could, and I bet many of us could, tell some horror stories about parents who don't discipline their kids when the kids misbehave.) Maybe it's the media, giving us more and more ideas about how to duck out of our responsibilities. Maybe it's the bloating and corporate-izing of US law, with more and more loopholes being found and exploited all over the place. Maybe it's the political system, where buying a senator (if you're a businessperson) or voting based on who's given you the most money (if you're a politician) is seen as an acceptable alternative to actually representing the people you're supposed to represent -- the constituents if you're a politician, the shareholders if you're a businessperson.
In short, I don't know why this has happened or (ironically) who/what to blame for it. I can only observe that it has happened/is happening, and that it disturbs me. A lot. And I sure as shit will be instilling a sense of personal responsibility in my kid(s) if/when I have them, anyone else's opinion be damned.
Whew! It's good to finally get that rant off my chest. Like I said, it's been building up for a while.
* Please don't jump on me about the fat thing. I know plenty of people who eat right, exercise, take care of themselves, and are still overweight. I'm not ragging on them. I'm only ragging on people who are fat and keep eating and never exercise, and then complain about how much their backs hurt, etc.
