Who did it?
We have Gay pride, Latino pride, Black Pride, Woman's Pride...how about Gay Shame, Latino Shame, Black Shame, Women's Shame?
Come on, let's be fair. For every yin there is a yang. Is there any success without failures; cheering without booing, self-congratulation without self-criticism, rights without responsibility? Have gays sometimes failed themselves? Don't Hispanics stumble on their own, blacks tripped themselves up and women cut off their noses to spite their faces. Is is all powerful white males' fault?
Could some of group-identity difficulties be a product of one's own f___ing up and not necessarily the product of others failing us? There is a common theme in modern identity politics of blaming one's problems on someone else that seems a little too-simplistic: the idea that everything good in life has been a product of my one own group's achievement and everything bad (counter-productive) a result of another group's fault?
Shakespeare said in his play, "Julius Caesar": "The fault, Dear Brutus, lies not with the stars, but with we ourselves." Always blaming someone else for all our difficulties seems too easy...and juvenile. It's what children and adolescents do: "look what Mommy and Daddy did to me!" and they go into their room and slam the door; waiting for Mommy's and Daddy's guilt to alter the situation.
Adults rather, shrug somewhat philosophically, accept that 'shit (even shit that may have been caused by somebody else) happens'...and move on forward, by accepting responsibility (ownership) for our own undesirable situations, and spend valuable energy fixing the problem and not worrying so much about affixing the blame.
To view it from a macro- level: "Ask not what America can do for you; ask what you can do for America." That was President's JFK's inspiration for America in his 1961 inaugural address. It seemed a better rally cry for national consensus, and personal achievement, than the cry-baby-ing that seems a bit too rampant amongst our political parties...and minorities...today. It's time to alter the 50-year descent in self-excusing and other-blaming. Grow up, America. Blame yourself--ALL of ourselves--for the Great Recession and wealth imbalance. And change it.
Come on, let's be fair. For every yin there is a yang. Is there any success without failures; cheering without booing, self-congratulation without self-criticism, rights without responsibility? Have gays sometimes failed themselves? Don't Hispanics stumble on their own, blacks tripped themselves up and women cut off their noses to spite their faces. Is is all powerful white males' fault?
Could some of group-identity difficulties be a product of one's own f___ing up and not necessarily the product of others failing us? There is a common theme in modern identity politics of blaming one's problems on someone else that seems a little too-simplistic: the idea that everything good in life has been a product of my one own group's achievement and everything bad (counter-productive) a result of another group's fault?
Shakespeare said in his play, "Julius Caesar": "The fault, Dear Brutus, lies not with the stars, but with we ourselves." Always blaming someone else for all our difficulties seems too easy...and juvenile. It's what children and adolescents do: "look what Mommy and Daddy did to me!" and they go into their room and slam the door; waiting for Mommy's and Daddy's guilt to alter the situation.
Adults rather, shrug somewhat philosophically, accept that 'shit (even shit that may have been caused by somebody else) happens'...and move on forward, by accepting responsibility (ownership) for our own undesirable situations, and spend valuable energy fixing the problem and not worrying so much about affixing the blame.
To view it from a macro- level: "Ask not what America can do for you; ask what you can do for America." That was President's JFK's inspiration for America in his 1961 inaugural address. It seemed a better rally cry for national consensus, and personal achievement, than the cry-baby-ing that seems a bit too rampant amongst our political parties...and minorities...today. It's time to alter the 50-year descent in self-excusing and other-blaming. Grow up, America. Blame yourself--ALL of ourselves--for the Great Recession and wealth imbalance. And change it.
posted by Cliff Osmond at 5:06 PM
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