The issue of personal responsibility is something I consider often, actually, less in the realm of my ability on society as a whole, but rather my how my actions in the community will affect individuals. I frequently find myself imagining all the scenarios that could result from one of my actions--how something I've done (or didn't do) could potentially affect the life of another. For example, say that while driving, I threw an empty soda can into the street. Later, a small child playing in his front yard sees the shiny can glinting in the sunlight and decides to go investigate, toddling out into the street. He is subsequently run over by a car. Now, who's to blame? The driver, for not seeing him in time? The child, for walking onto the road? The parent chaperoning him, for not keeping a better eye on him? Or could one perhaps trace the blame back to me, the litterbug who carelessly tossed my waste into the street? I may not have hit the child myself, and I may not have been responsible for the child's actions, but it was my action that set this other event into motion. Forgive me for the morbid example, but hey, maybe you'll think twice about littering now?
Admittedly, this way of thinking of responsibility is less philosophical and more neurotic, but it still poses an interesting thought: who can rightfully shoulder the blame for a problem? When something bad happens, is the responsible party always as obvious as it seems?
In class we discussed whether the Virginia Tech community could be held partially responsible for the shooting spree of Seung-Hui Cho. There was an actual lawsuit against the college for not warning the campus early enough after the first attack, in which two people were shot (source). But could the blame stretch even further, to the people that knew him, for not noticing that something was seriously wrong? Each of us does not live in a vacuum; we are all affected by the actions of others, whether consciously or not. In turn, we all affect others, both as individuals and as part of the community. Andrea brought up in class how this theme of community responsibility is expressed in The Laramie Project. Despite the objections of citizens of Laramie that hate crimes like what happened to Matthew Shepard weren't a product of their society, that "stuff like that doesn't happen here," the fact remains that it did happen there. Matthew Shepard's killers may have acted alone, but the community cannot efface itself of all blame. It was a conservative town, that probably unknowingly nurtured a lot of homophobic sentiment. The responsibility for combatting crimes like these lies with society at large: we must eradicate the problem at its source by promoting rights and equality above hate.
I agree that the issue of social responsibility is a difficult idea to accept for people, especially when college kids such as us are just now becoming responsible for ourselves. But I do think that your example again confuses the fault versus the responsibility of a horrible event such as a child’s death.
ReplyDeleteIn your example there is clearly some blame that could be shouldered by the person who decided to litter. I think that it gets even more complicated than that example but the intention remains the same. Are there any situations in which you understand to be responsible for someone’s death by the understanding of the colloquial use of responsibility?
When lawyers and politicians put blame on people, they commonly refer to "responsibility". "This administration is to blame because of so and so" is something we were always hearing leading up to the elections. But honestly, can somebody stand up and say that they are liable for something they had no direct connection to? I don’t think so, mostly because the differences are obvious to me.
As for the Laramie Project, I haven’t read the book but I think it sounds like a great example of how even the best intentions can foster horrible outcomes. How do we combat some unforeseen outcome if we are not aware of it in the first place?