Playing the Blame Game
Or the merits of lifting a finger rather than pointing it, as it pertains to the climate crisis.
Read five articles on the climate crisis and you’ll read about 5 different culprits for our current predicament. From politicians to businesses to the very nature of our economy and everything in between. Who’s right? Truthfully, all of them. Who’s to blame? Simply, all of us. But while there may be some catharsis for a climate writer in pointing their finger, or some absolution for us in reading about it, the honest truth is it doesn’t help.
I saw the movie “Rising Sun” when I was 14, it’s an action crime thriller based on a book by Michael Crichton. And while I have watched it many times, I’ve not seen it in at least 20 years. There is one minor scene in that movie, an exchange between characters played by Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes, that features a quote that’s rattled around in my brain for the past 27 years:
“The Japanese have a saying, ‘Fix the problem, not the blame.’ Find out what’s (messed) up and fix it. Nobody gets blamed. We’re always after who (messed) up. Their way is better.”
That stands in stark contrast to the blame game we play in the climate conversation (and also in most political conversations and, basically, the entirety of Twitter). But I want…
