Spring Break
Blame game has no winners, says A&M professor
By: Nathan Ball
Issue date: 7/31/08 Section: News
|
Texas A&M professor of neuroscience William Klemm said most Americans are quick to pass blame onto anyone else but themselves. His book, The Blame Game: How to Win It, Klemm describes this cultural phenomenon with common sense advice and scientific evidence, and offers a five-step solution for breaking bad blaming habits.
"The premise of the book is that all of us make excuses for one thing or another," Klemm said. "The problem is that when you make an excuse, you don't fool anybody. Other people see your excuses as evidence of personal weakness."
Blaming others for our own faults, said Klemm, has only recently become a pervasive American habit. Passing the buck and not taking responsibility for our own inadequacies only offers "fig leaves for the psyche.
"They don't really cover up anything; the real problems and failures don't ever get resolved."
Klemm cited Phil Gramm's comment that America is "becoming a nation of whiners."
"It was not politically wise to say that, but I think he is right," said Klemm. "It is sort of a paradox because things come pretty easily in our country today. We have lots of luxuries and things to entertain us... it is sort of an entitlement mentality.
"Check any news outlet, on any day, and you will always find somebody in the news making excuses and placing blame in the wrong places," Klemm said. "How did we come to this? How did we develop a culture of knee-jerk blaming the victim and excusing the villain? I think the cause emanated from an excuse-making character flaw in a growing number of Americans. We even make excuses for others because it relieves our guilt over our own flaws. It's called political correctness."
Be sure to include your name, major, and class year. Submissions without this information are subject to deletion.
By submitting a comment, you agree to thebatt.com's Terms of Use.
You may also send a Mail Call to The Battalion at mailcall@thebatt.com