Responsibility, Interrupted

I am becoming more and more alarmed that the decline of personal responsibility is at the root of many of the ills currently affecting the world today. In terms of world "leaders", rarely (if ever) do you hear the words "That action was taken upon my orders, and I take full responsibility for it."

Much more likely to occur is what I term 'reponsibility, interrupted'; that is, an acceptance of responsibility for a situation that was not one's fault or beyond one's control. Yes, these can actually occur*, but all too often the words are offered as excuses for behaviour that resulted from personal actions. In this regard, be particularly wary of anyone who states, "Well, what happened was really too bad. I mean, when I said what I did, I didn't really mean...."

Yes, you did. Now bloody well own up to it.

Much worse, of course, occurs when responsibility for decisions and actions that you enact is given over to others, whether a revered leader or (truly incredible) an imaginary religious entity. Currently, and in this context, God and Allah are leading the pack.

The advantage here is that invariably a cardinal, imam or mullah or other religious leader has somehow managed to know what precisely the reigning God wants, and can incite followers to carry out these wishes. So jihad reigns today. Too bad for non-believers when those wishes argue for total elimination. The religious followers happily carry out the instructions; personal responsibility has disappeared, to be replaced by subservience to some (in my opinion, crazed) leader.

Until a great many stand up and say, not without courage, "It's our fault. We are responsible, and here is how we can correct the situation", there is likely to be a great deal of blood shed. Or, as Erica Jong wrote in one of the better paragraphs in Fear of Flying: "Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame."

Enough, or too much.

*The reference here is to the Benghazi raid, where an American ambassador was killed. Congressional Republicans see this as a cause celebre with respect to Hillary Clinton being incompetent, and hence spiking her guns should she wish to run for President in 2016. This is rubbish. Ms Clinton has already taken responsibility for the situation, although there were a number of areas well beyond her (or anyone else's) control.