...However, the problem is that when this attitude arises - this attitude of not accepting any responsibility for ones own piece of the puzzle, and blaming one of the other pieces - society molds itself around this attitude. The lawsuits, the rules, the red tape, the bureaucracy. It's always someone elses fault, and again, people want to take the easy way out; the way that requires the least amount of effort on their part. People don't have any thoughts or opinions of their own, but rather they take on, as their own, the thoughts and opinions of others. Now, it is perfectly fine to agree with others, and to find others who share the same thoughts and feelings as yourself. But it is not perfectly fine to have thoughts and opinions that you have no reason for having, other than the fact that someone else - some authority figure - has them, which means that they are valid and right. If you did not at some point question why you agree with so and so, or why you believe that so and so is right, and independently, out of your own critical thinking, reach the same conclusion, then you have no basis for your thoughts, and they are meaningless. So am I angry at those who do not think and are not independent? Yes. Do I recognize that a good percentage of people are not intelligent enough to understand all of this and they don't even know that they are doing this (not thinking)? Yes. Do I realize that it is a complicated world and many people have many more daily struggles of survival than I? Yes. But these people are often the same ones who do not take any responsibility for their own actions. These are the people who prefer to let someone or something else take care of them. These are the people who expect something/someone outside of themselves to fix things. It is a circle. The people feed off of the books and news stories and tv shows, they come to accept these things and believe in them, and because they accept and believe and don't question, there is a demand for more of it, and it continues on, and our culture becomes more silly, irrational, dependent, and lacking its own judgement. But how did I get here? Well, it's something that can't be resolved - I'm angry at the masses because they don't think, but this anger is not true anger, as I also know (or don't see how) it could never be anything different from this. I think this is humanity, and the majority of people are not going to think, for many possible reasons. And the majority of people do not believe in personal accountability; in other words, they do not recognize their responsibility in any given situation. I am angry at this, and this is inexcusable for all of these people to be like this, but I think this is how it is. - 06/24/2004
The above is what I believe. It is inexcusable for people not to think, and for people not to take responsibility for their actions. It is inexcusable for people to make excuses. That said, there is a segment of the population that is, mentally, helpless. I am not speaking of these individuals - those who are still children (by age only; those who are still unaware of much, and can be easily molded), and those who are mentally handicapped, whether from birth or through old age. Adults who manipulate and take advantage of this naievity because they know they can are moral wretches. The young and elderly are easy victims, and anyone who takes advantage of the truly helpless is utterly in the wrong. This is an absolute. [Tangent: This also could be the introduction to a discussion on education and environment - exactly what are the young being taught to regard as the truth? The fields of study with the most drastic implication for being taught incorrectly, or untruthfully, are history and science...ironically, even current events. And unfortunately - but something which is to be expected - religion for a vast number of people is elevated higher than education. Religion is stated as absolute, and fields such as science and history are considered relative.] By the time one is an adult (I will not debate what this age is, because this is a matter of opinion, and of culture), one moves beyond the point where he can use excuses in his life. He is fully responsible for his actions and reactions, and the chain reaction that happens as a result of every action, and he must accept the results, because he helped bring them about. And of course, there are certain things that could happen to someone where he played no role in bringing it about, such as another apartment tenant leaving a candle burning and causing the entire building to burn to the ground, or natural disasters, etc etc. But I'm speaking of everything that does not involve this carelessness by someone else, mindless destruction, or randomness. If that particular adult refuses to see or accept his responsibility, and instead blames things on his past, or on his parents, or on his colleagues, or on his inept decisions, or on the devil, or on God, or on whomever he feels has caused him injustice, then he is still a child and will not easily receive respect from me. I'm speaking of situations that directly impact a person's life. Situations outside of a person's capacity to change or impact cannot be blamed on that individual, as such. World and national politics and the specific decisions that are made by those in power are completely outside of most people's hands, and these people therefore have the right to complain, and protest, and demand changes and improvements, if they disagree. And to not complain or demand, if given the opportunity, would be a denial, and would be hypocritical and inexcusable, and that person would then have no right to voice any opinion on the matter in the future. The other issue, which I alluded to earlier, is that our society has become so backwards that I don't see how it would be conceivable to get it fixed. Because it is so backwards, there are a lot of "people problems" that are getting worse. But back to accountability. I will give a few examples, and let it be known that I do believe there is a very small percentage of the population that have mental illnesses or addictions that are a result of genetic makeup, and this very small percentage should be on medication to manage their disposition. Example 1. The huge numbers of overweight people in the US. They will blame the diet fads that don't work, the fact that they're pre-disposed, genetically, to weight gain and that it's not fair that skinny people don't have this problem, the fact that they don't have time to exercise, the fact that restaurants serve unhealthy food, the fact that weight has always been an issue and they can't keep it off, etc. But these same people don't watch what they eat, they cave in and have a late night snack, they skimp on exercising, they purchase junk food, they eat out several times a week, and they live for short term results. They have no discipline, and they aren't willing to change their lifestyle. Example 2. There are so many personality "disorders" out there now that people are given prescriptions for. This is just a theory, but I think a very plausible one. It is much more comforting to believe one has some sort of disorder that isn't one's fault and which is magically the reason for all of one's problems, rather than going through the extremely lengthy, painful, and difficult process of becoming aware of yourself and your personality, making lifestyle adjustments to better cope with it, and really digging into your problems to find the reason behind them and dealing with your emotions and issues firsthand.