Carrying The Can
We tend to think that those that can do so pass the buck onto the next person in line, such that the “little people” cop the flak on someone else’s behalf. On the flipside, those at the top of the totem pole are thought to reap the credit of those lower on it.
I can’t help but think that this is not always the case though, and that all of us will quite happily apply blame to the very highest echelons rather than accept that we’ve been at fault ourselves.
I’ve just heard my brother ranting away, though I missed the bulk of it. I’d have paid no attention, except that my ears pricked up at a rather bitter “Gordon Brown. I ‘ope someone fuckin’ shoots the twat!”
So I asked him what the issue with Brown is in his mind. I’m well aware of such things as Northern Rock and that he’s been getting flak in the popular press because of the capricious economic outlook. (My brother’s qualm was “Well, someone’s been putting [the price of] things up”, citing the price of petrol as an example.)
Of course, I happen to know that he’s not responsible for these things, that the credit crunch results from greed, appalling irrational decisions, and totally irresponsible lending and borrowing, and that oil prices aren’t set by the government (although they *could* lower tax to offset increases by OPEC).
The thing is, I know this, but my brother is “the average Briton”. What Mass thinks, other readers of the tabloid press also think.
I find it a frustrating attitude to adopt. I remember people calling for Alastair Darling’s head to roll because some junior of a junior of a junior misplaced data disks that he hadn’t protected with a password.
Where do people get off with adopting this line of attack? I don’t understand at all how it would be fitting that I lose my job because someone who I’ve never seen left a cabinet unlocked.
And what’s with the fleeing from responsibility? Why, as a group, do we tend to blame bad things on anyone other than ourselves? I’ve been refusing to buy a house for the last four years because it’s beyond obvious that people’s behaviour had caused a boom in the market. At the same time as complaining about the cost and how it’s hard to put a foot on the property ladder, people still go and feed the tempest. Now that the economy is reacting in the very obvious way that it was always destined to, we hear complaints about Gordon Brown and, absurdly, we are worried about the fact that the property we know to be overpriced is now going to lower. There are “fears” that the housing market will lose x% of its value, even though the cry when the prices were even lower than we fanticipate they’ll drop to was that property was overpriced and worked against first-timers.
Man, I totally hate people sometimes.
Tags: Economy