Stop Playing the Blame Game- We Are All Human

By Toni Mikec on April 25, 2013

According to Euclid’s first rule (requiring us to go back to the good old days of high school geometry), if two things are equal to a third thing, then the all the things are all equal to each other. However, my article is not about geometry, but rather something else. It concerns me as a person that people are very quick to generalize about the actions of groups of people after a tragedy occurs or in a time of danger. However, since we have not yet established a reason for the tragedy in Boston, I am begging you, my readers, to not blame a vast and diverse group of people for the actions of a paucity of people.

The actions of one person rarely (if ever) is linked to the actions of the group that the person belongs to. Case in point, I know someone who came from a country that has a long history of committing crimes against humanity. However, I do not judge him by the actions of the group that he belongs to, as I know we as humans are by virtue of birth, given some inalienable, fixed characteristics like nationality, race etc .To punish one person for the actions of another (that the first person had no control over) is unfair, unjust, and contrary to everything that we believe in. History teaches us that when the labeling of individuals disappears (ie. this person is selfless, that person is selfish) and is replaced by the labeling of a group (ie all ____ are dishonest because they are ___), tragedies happen. We saw this in the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide, and many other acts of infamy. To answer one tragedy by committing another is not the answer.

In addition, what shocks me is that we are so quick to dismiss the innate evil that dwells in each and every one of our hearts but proceed with haste to point out the evil in others. This evil comes with the act of being human and is not linked to any race, class, religion, political belief/affiliation, country of origin, sexual orientation, being an immigrant, being a native, or any of the other traits that we like to use shift blame from person to person. Every human being is capable of  the most horrific evil, every human being is capable of doing selfless actions of the greatest good, and every human is capable of being the bystander who does nothing. There is no way to predict who will do the next violent act (barring the presence of obvious psychological signs like showing an uncaring attitude towards violence or torturing animals) so generalizing is not a logical way to solve this problem.

The self righteousness of some of my fellow Americans regarding the Czech Republic/Chechnya mix-up also disgusts me. One person commented that “Czechs are mostly Christians who share similar values as Americans,” and presumably (according to that commentator) cannot be terrorists. However, I want to ask the author how they arrived at that conclusion. Unless they knew every Czech in the Czech Republic, he or she cannot accurately draw a respectable conclusion from such empirically lacking data.  I would also like to tell this commentator that if we were to actually open a book or do some research instead of being an armchair anthropologist, he/she would know that religious affiliation and attendance in the Czech Republic has been going down for many years (i.e. they are mostly atheist) and their values cannot be determined as each person is a singular actor (meaning that each person freely chooses their beliefs and values without (or with minimal influence) or compulsion from other actors).

I know that we all, regardless of our traits (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, legal, illegal, gay, straight, etc.) are all affected equally by a tragedy. Perhaps those who share some link with the perpetrator (being from the same geographic area, same faith etc.) are perhaps affected more than those who do not share those bonds. Rather than wasting our time, money and energy playing the ethnic-religion blame game, perhaps we should look for those who are visibly psychologically disturbed (those who have no empathy and love to make others suffer) instead of plotting to deport (imprison, kill etc.) every person who holds common threads to the perpetrator.

Finally, I would like to close this article with the some words from the film Agora, which also deals with religious fundamentalism. In the film, one of the characters states that “whatever may go on in the streets, we are brothers.” Please, please, please do not forget that we must stand as one during these dark hours. Despite what many people believe, we are not apples. One rotten one does not spoil the bunch as long as Euclid’s first rule holds true.

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Get Top Stories Delivered Weekly

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format