The Blame Game

The Blame Game started a long, long time ago, when in the Book of Genesis, Eve (Mother of all Living) blamed the Serpent as the reason for her eating the forbidden fruit.  Adam (Father of all Mankind)  blamed Eve.  Since then, we have all been playing the game.  Neither Eve or Adam could change the fact that they had eaten the forbidden fruit.  It is what it is—so they tried to explain, which led to the question:  Whose fault is it?  Whose to blame for my actions?  Because Adam and Eve were very much like us (occasionally irrational)—they refused to take responsibility and blamed it all on somebody else.  

This game is one of the most destructive of human pastimes. It consists of blaming another person for an undesirable event or circumstance.  The game is driven by four irrational beliefs:  (1) If something isn’t as it should be, then someone other than myself must be identified and blamed for causing the situation. (2) The person blamed does not deserve respect as a person.  (3) Therefore, it is permissible to treat the person in the way he or she deserves to be treated (name-calling, physical assault, shunning, etc.) (4) I cannot accept any degree of responsibility for to do so would be to admit that I am myself diminished as a person and therefore deserving of the same negative treatment.  [Elliot D. Cohen, Psychology Today]

The game is particularly familiar in politics.  As I observe the game played out by both conservative and liberal camps I try to laugh it off, but I can’t do so.  The game is far too destructive to be in any way humorous.  Why?  Because the blame game is usually irrational! 

Many previous presidents have criticized their predecessors, especially during their run for office.  President Obama criticized (blamed) George W. Bush for what he saw as a misguided invasion of Iraq and his failure to avert the financial meltdown that greeted Obama when he took office.  Others have done the same in a rational way without denigrating one another.  Mr. Trump has blamed Obama for almost every problem that crosses his desk in the Oval Office: civil war in Syria, nuclear showdown with N. Korea, health care, manufacturing jobs in the Rust Belt, etc.  Trump says he “inherited a mess” and President Obama is to blame for all of it.  He has accused Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower, breaking the law in the Russia investigation and on and on. 

Conservatives, on the other hand, since Day One of the Trump presidency, have continually whined about their man “Trump” being more “picked on” and “attacked” and “blamed” than any other previous president.  Sean Hannity calls it the media’s out of control “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”  He pointed to a Washington Post editorial this week:  “Another hurricane is about to batter our coast. Trump is complicit.”  Hannity went bonkers with the proof text (headline).  Irrationality on the part of Democrats, Republicans, the Media, Religious personalities, or anyone else exercising power is no laughing matter!