Who's to blame?

12:17pm Thursday 8th March 2007

I picked up an interesting snippet from a book I’m reading called ‘A Journey in Ladakh’. The author overheard a conversation in a bar in which a question was asked : ’If a Ladakhi woman gets ripped off, paying too much for a poor quality shawl in the market, who’s fault is it ?’ The answer was unanimously ‘the purchaser, she should have known better, and been shrewder’. If you asked the same question here, I wonder what the response would be.

It may have been the market trader for being a rogue; possibly the Council for allowing a rogue trader to be at the market; maybe the Police for not locking up such criminals; was it the trader’s parents for not giving them adequate guidance; indeed the government is likely to be at fault for not having tight enough trading standards…..and so it goes on.

In the first scenario, the purchaser takes full responsibility for their actions. In the second they become a victim of circumstance, and in doing so become powerless. In a blame culture personal responsibility is diminished and trust is eroded.

So who shall we blame for the social and environmental ills we face? Surely it must be the Government’s fault – but do they not reflect the will of the electorate?; In which case, it must be local Councillors - but were they not voted in by us, the residents of County ?; So it must be businesses then, as they produce the goods which impact on the world – but who buys the goods?

Of course there are infrastructures and systems in place which encourage certain behaviour and these cannot be ignored, but the one place where the buck stops in a consumer-driven society, is the consumer.

Whatever choice we make as individuals: what and how much we consume; whether we engage in local politics; how we behave towards our neighbours; all have an effect on what our world and society look like. We are none of us truly victims of circumstance.


Peter Norton