IMWRS
Created | Updated Jul 11, 2003
Ah, here I sit yet again watching my cursor blink-blink-blink at me in its profoundly holier-than-thou manner. We have worked out an arrangement where I won't look at it and it won't blink... though I fear it is not living up to its part of the bargain.
What strikes me today is the topic of blame. Something that everyone is ready to put on someone else but rarely willing to assume themselves. Like some rancid fruitcake passed around amongst family at Christmas, blame is something attributed when something goes wrong sometime or somewhere. Things can't just happen... oh no... they happen because of someone or something; that 'someone' or 'something' mostly being of the someone else or something else variety.
Whether it be God, your boss, your parents or the Internet, blame is ultimately ensconced upon others. It is a natural phenomenon and one that happens out of habit. Perhaps it's the guilt complex, a need to purge oneself of all misdoing by 'passing the buck' so to speak. Perhaps it's a reflex built into us from childbirth. A reflex we have where we are afraid of ensuing punishment from trivial misbehaviour. It's perhaps bred into us, though I doubt it.
Everyone is willing to place blame. The latest victim of the blame game, for instance, is the Internet. Parents in uproar, senile politicians huffing and puffing on Capital Hill, religious groups and holy rollers spout unethical behaviours resulting from its inception. Seems childish really. Blame being passed back and forth in a non-war. Lets take a look.
Parents and all the others mentioned earlier are in an uproar about the ease with which their children can access 'pornographic' sites1, gambling sites and sites they deemed as immature or offensive. Parents lobby politicians and boycott telecommunications companies as a result. Blame-blame-blame. Parents blame the Internet for fostering subversive ideals in the minds of young children. The ease with which these children can access sites of these nature is undisputed... I grant that much as a concession. But the fact that children who have been found accessing these sites aren't properly educated as to the sites' place in society leaves one to wonder as to the parenting skills of the parents. Is childhood about discovery or isn't it? If a child stumbles onto a weird coloured bug or strange animal, doesn't the parent tell the child the name and type of the said specimen? Well, shouldn't the parents also educate these children as to why the pornographic images on the screen are what they are or the literature found about the recent hate group initiatives and why they are wrong?
You see, I don't blame the Internet for a parent's lack of parenting. You see the excuse that these sites are accessible to children isn't a viable one. All computers and servers have parental controls now... they all give the parents the ability to restrict the access. This sounds not like an Internet problem, but a parental one. Sure I agree that some things on the Internet aren't the best for all viewers. Some things seem so outrageous and down right unjustifiable. Yes, I agree the appearances of hate groups and new porn servers are a certainty, but these sites can be blocked. Where does the blame lay there? Perhaps with the parents huh? Perhaps rather than spending their time lobbying Washington or Parliament or going out of their way to NOT use things made by AOL or MSN... perhaps that time could be better spent telling their children why these things are wrong or immoral. Now then we do enjoy freedom of speech here and these ideas and sites are a fact of life... education is the key to showing the children the way of right versus wrong.
But the remarkable thing about this blame placing is that has been going on for years before the very birth of the Internet. Yes, that is right! Years before, music was blamed for festering satanic ideals or the violence amongst minorities who just don't have the same chance at life like those placing the blame. Television is blamed for adolescents who throw themselves at vehicles or off rooftops just like their heroes. Adult movies are blamed for the defiling of women and the sex crimes that occur. Blame is placed by those, most often, who are in a position to judge lest they be judged themselves.
Rather than looking at the problems that these people suffer from, the lack of knowledge that they possess, the way in which people time and time again have turned their backs on them they subject them to an omniscient blame. Now I am sure that there are down right evil people out there in the world, people whose very actions send waves of fear and horrific sentiments of pain in the public. These people exist, the Manson Family, the Hitlers of the nations, the Dommers. These people exist, and they are sensationalised. Thus all injustices which are blamed upon the media are linked to the media because that is what media does... sensationalise. We need to educate and blame not one thing alien to the situation. Do ICE T's lyrics make minorities kill policemen... do Beatles lyrics make men kill people by the dozens... do images of naked women make men commit sex crimes? Perhaps in some... but not in all. Education, learning by both the commit-er and the commit-ee is key to making these types of things lessening... they'll never stop... but the number of incidents would lessen considerably. The blame will be properly placed and measures can be taken to assure that the occurrences of such atrocities won't happen again.
How come blame isn't something we can't assume ourselves? Doesn't it make us more honourable and give us more integrity? Does it make us someone that people can trust? Shouldn't we scoop up what is left of our faces by standing tall? I would like to think so.
Well, my fellow researchers, that is all I have to say about this topic. I open the floor for discussion and will entertain all opinions thusly and without condescension or sarcasm. So, until then, Godspeed and I look forward to hearing from you.
