Credit vs Blame

We must stop doing this, people! If something good happens, who takes the credit? If a bad happening, who gets the blame?

Our media does this for just about every news item. Of course, the occupant of the White House takes credit for anything he thinks is good (drop in unemployment, higher employment rate for African Americans, stock market soaring to high levels, etc.). He avoids the blame for the negative items (dropping stock market values, low interest rates [this is a variable item; often seen negatively and positively; the blame/credit attribution is positively head spinning!], deficit spending, border security, etc.) he blames on Democrats. Never a republican or their party despite the evidence to the contrary.

So, the blame game goes on and on. And the credit game as well. So childish.

Cause, effect and result are good things to pursue. That is the writing of history. However, no one knows the truth of most of the stuff under public discussion. It is pure conjecture offered as proof. It isn’t proof, but in the occupant’s mind it is. Time helps with writing history; time to gather the facts – large and small – and relate them to each other. Such connections provide the backstory and the understanding of events. Sorting through the details over time provides better focus.

Writing history at the time of its occurrence, doesn’t work very well. A recounting of happenings is one thing; understanding each one as a cause, or an effect, or as a result, is another matter entirely. Getting it right is important. Such are the precedents of understanding and logic to make later decisions.

Current news and public discussion has mixed up polarity of fact: what is in is really out; what’s out is in; up and down are reversed. Facts don’t seem to matter anymore. Only the story is important, even if it isn’t fully formed yet.

I was discussing current events the other day with a fellow who is very much in the know. And smart. He understands the interrelationships of our complex world. He doesn’t make knee jerk conclusions; he pauses and ponders things a lot; then he hazards a conclusion.

I suggested we remove ourselves from thinking much on current events and instead focus on the outcomes we would rather see. What are the positive attributes we want our society to be known for? What kind of characteristics do we use to define a hero, or leader, or thinker, or positive contributor to society? What are the ideals we aim for, both personally and organizationally? And socially; what do we want for life quality?

These are the measures of what is good and purposeful. Shouldn’t we be striving to fulfill these templates for a more ideal future? Would these efforts attract more positive collaboration from the rest of us?

Instead, we focus on happenings – good or bad – and make instantaneous decisions on the rightness or wrongness of them.

Such behavior drains energy from more creative pursuits. Maybe that’s why some people lose themselves in art, music and scientific research. Perhaps they are better adjusted than the rest of us?

February 12, 2018