I Googled the term first. It’s not really out there. I should write a book. But I’ll start with this:
“The Blame Society: The Real Threat to Civilization”
Or something like that.
I get so sick of it – and not because I deal with the flamers, trolls, venters and other folks who abuse free forums, and scream ‘censorship’ if not allowed to spew (I tell them, ‘Go to Rants and Raves.’)
No, I don’t blame them. (Get it?) Well, not entirely. One frequent poster who rankles my nerves refers to most folks as “sheeple.” Prone to want to blame someone or something — politicians, Greedy Big Business, and of course, today’s big Blamee, Illegal Immigrants — for the problems of society.
Taken to the extreme, it seems these people are saying, “If everyone just thought like me, the world would be perfect.”
It almost doesn’t matter whether they believe it. The venom factor in today’s society is so high, it’s approaching global warming status. (Oh my, there’s another fine controversy. It reminds me of abortion, or the Middle East, or name any war – a never-ending, no-win blamefest.)
Compromise has never been a dirtier word. Why discuss when you can argue? Why listen when you can make others listen? Why solve problems when you really succeed by stirring up our most base passions to … blame the other side for all of our problems?
It is so maddening, so frustrating, so exasperating.
So who do we blame for this state of affairs? Do we look in the mirror, or smash it and use the broken pieces to cut our competition?
I’ve said it before — I’m a moderate, the right-wing talk show host’s worst enemy. But I listen to left-wing talk show hosts, and they make me mad, too. I don’t WANT msnbc to be one-sided, as if to counter-balance the apparent (to them) one sidedness of Fox News. Yes, I believe CNN tries to go down the middle of the road, and probably gets villified for doing so.
In a no-win Blame Society, our favorite hobby is to tear down those who disagree with us and send money or love notes to those on “our side.” To just wait until the next election to throw the bums out, to send a message that… what’s the message again? That we want it go back to the way it was before, under “our party’s” time of rule?
Times are tough, and that breeds anger and fear — and the powers that be want to channel that anger and fear to achieve their aims. Whatever happened to thinking for yourself, to calm, rational discussion, to being open to the notion that the other side has a point worth considering? No, that’s now seen as a sign of weakness, a chink in the armor, a chance to prevail over the weak wafflers, the Jimmy Carters, the … Obamas, of course, in some eyes.
A plague on both your houses? Vote for None of the Above? Where does that get us? Does a third party or independent candidate just hand an elected seat to the other side? Is that what it’s come down to?
The Blame Society. I blame it for our ills. I blame those who propogated it for our inability to reach consensus any more. I pray for a way to move beyond the blame game, to find some structure, online, on-air or in person, to realize that negotiation, give-and-take, compromise isn’t hopeless Pollyanna kumbaya. It’s our only hope of survival.
It’s a mindset as real and even more valuable than the one we’ve allowed ourselves to be trapped in today.
Stop blaming. Start listening. Realize anyone who sells you a simple answer knows better, and is playing you like a Stradivarius.
Take the best of all positions and mold a new one. Sell it through the benefits, not the fears.
Who’s with me?
Leave it to Barney 
Well said, Barney. The polarization, the ‘us against them’ mentality, the shouting, name-calling, and threats are so harmful! Thank you for your efforts to get folks to think.
Thanks for the kind words, Jill. Maybe the provocative if ironically hypocritical title should be: ‘Who’s to Blame for the Blame Society’?;-)
Barney,
Perhaps if both sides were not so far apart, listening and compromise could be reached. However the problem is that there is great distance between the two sides. You say you are a moderate, and I consider myself a moderate, yet from reading your opinions you and I are vastly different in our beliefs and opinions. Every day I read and listen too the otherside and I am sick of it. I’ve heard it all and I don’t agree with 90% of it. Obviously I’m coming from the right but how can there be compromise with the kind of person who attends a prayer vigil for geese. Some of the beliefs out there are so absurd they cause the opinions of the issues today to be very extreme. I believe the answer lies with good leadership and unfortunately we haven’t had that over the last 10 years. The country seems focused on new leadership in the coming election. Hopfully this change will pull the two sides closer together.
How ‘throwing the bums out’ and putting in new… bums? will “pull the two sides closer together” I have not a clue. To me, throwing people out of office en masse is venting, not considered thinking. It’s an emotional move, not a logical one. I mourn the extremes getting all the attention. We’re more alike than we think, but we are being used by those who want us to fear the ‘bad others.’ So what if a few folks get together to mourn geese? To paint ‘the other side’ with a broad brush and use the extremes to feel satisfaction in our writing them off is sadder still, IMHO.