Almost everything is a contributing factor to the melting ice caps or greenhouse gasses or whatever it is they say causes global warming. As a lifetime resident of non-tropical areas, I would really like to see the fruits of our labors in that direction. As it is, it is very cold outside right now. It is also cold inside if you are in my basement, bathroom, or upstairs spare bedroom.
Everyone has ideas about how to reduce this phenomenon - everyone is excited to point fingers and place blame. I feel like I am really missing out here so I want to get in on this action.
Experience and advice have led me to believe that we can blame almost everything from high gas prices to not having warm water when you shower in the morning on the use and abuse of variants of the following two phrases:
It's not my fault.
and
That's not fair.
Yes it is and yes it is.
If you have to make the statement that it isn't your fault, then it is absolutely assured that you hold claim to at least roughly 40% of the blame. Claiming that you didn't start it, you had no choice, or that you were following the directions don't get you off the hook. Having an excuse does not excuse you.
I was once told that there are two basic types of people - those who accept responsibility and seek progress and those who shift the blame to others and seek to avoid consequences.
In the case of a minor crime, one person pleads guilty, accepts a sentence and likely ends up coming away with a lesser punishment and a strong experience. Another person blames everyone around them - their accomplices, their friends, their parents, the police, the system, the victims - and comes away feeling like they were treated unfairly and further entrenched in the lifestyle that led to the crime in the first place.
As illustrated accidentally in the preceding scenario, the two phrases are closely connected and are often used in rapid succession. Sometimes they are even used interchangeably - intended to mean basically the same thing. Go to a school teaching students of any age and watch as a student is disciplined and you'll hear it. I promise.
Claiming something isn't fair is about the most ignorant thing a modern American can claim unless they were directly and grievously used and/or abused. Our state relative to the average earthling is so elevated that most of the injustices we can suffer wouldn't even make the radar of a person with a true sense of justice and the slightest bit of international awareness.
It isn't fair that some people work hard and are overtaxed while a minority don't work and get free health care? Millions of people die because they don't have access to even the most basic health care - and they work MUCH harder than we do on average. That actually isn't fair. The other thing is on the level with children fighting over toys.
So how can I place the blame for global warming on the claims that it isn't my fault and it isn't fair?
If the theories presented on global warming are correct, then anyone who uses a car or electricity has a share in the blame. Obviously, since there are billions of us, it is a small share - but if you compare yourself head-to-head with other individuals worldwide instead of seeing your "carbon footprint" as 1 ten billionth of the problem, you can see that it is at least as much your fault as anyone else's. Even the "greenest" person in a developed country does not compare well to the average.
It isn't fair? It isn't fair that you are expected to change your ways to help out? It isn't fair that the new light bulbs look stupid and cost more? It isn't fair that you can't afford a more fuel-efficient car? It isn't fair because you have to drive further for reasons X,Y, and Z? It isn't fair because you are more busy, have more kids, have an older house, have less money? It isn't fair that for this to work, you have to make changes while other will simply refuse? Think about the penguins. Or the Innuit. Or Santa.
It is not difficult at all to show how these phrases are used on a personal, corporate, societal, and governmental basis. Somewhere, the people who are the main contributing factors to any problem are either claiming that it isn't actually their fault or that even if it is there fault, their situation is so unfair that they cannot take the blame.
How do we change this?
Isn't that obvious?
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