By Varun Maheshwari//Davidson College ‘23/@varun926 Blame. It’s such an interesting concept. Honestly, it’s more of a knee jerk reaction for an uncomfortable situation, easy to say “It was him, I didn’t do it.” In today’s political climate, blame is such an easy thing to do and almost everyone ‘blames’ another group for some misfortune or qualm. But since our childhoods, we’ve been taught by our parents and teachers that we need to own up to our mistakes and stop blaming others for the bad things that happen to us. Given the polarization of this country’s politics, it’s almost impossible to expect anyone to ‘own up’ to their mistakes and political discussion both at a microscopic level and at the macro level (ex. our ex-president). Don’t get me wrong, I’ve blamed plenty of people in my life. I blame the Patriots for ruining five chances for the Ravens to make the Super Bowl and I blame my parents for never letting me get a dog. I’ve also blamed people (during political discussions) on topics such as affirmative action affecting me, as an Asian-American, hurt me during the college admission process or voters defending a president who allowed white supremacists to invade our nation’s capital. However, as ‘freeing’ as blame might feel, it’s useless. There are several more constructive ways to demonstrate how someone is in the wrong, and even if being harsh is your goal, there are superior ways to make them feel extremely small too without using simple blaming tactics. Simply saying, “it's your fault,” is both a soft and unconstructive argument because it separates, not unites, and makes the other person tune out almost immediately.
Good analysis. Seems like what you're suggesting is everyone could use a healthy dose of *character* education. I wonder how we might do that on a large scale, and how we might hold leaders accountable for their character, besides simply voting them out and continuing the game with someone else?
1. It's Capitol, not Capital, your Professor whose Twitter post/link bragging about you, I followed, has failed you. Please list the names of individuals who were at the Capitol on January 6th who are White Supremacists. People like you who make blanket racist accusations against White folks, need to be called out for spreading hate.
Good analysis. Seems like what you're suggesting is everyone could use a healthy dose of *character* education. I wonder how we might do that on a large scale, and how we might hold leaders accountable for their character, besides simply voting them out and continuing the game with someone else?
1. It's Capitol, not Capital, your Professor whose Twitter post/link bragging about you, I followed, has failed you. Please list the names of individuals who were at the Capitol on January 6th who are White Supremacists. People like you who make blanket racist accusations against White folks, need to be called out for spreading hate.