Moral Radio-activity - The Blame Game

Rather like lacrimae rerum (the tears in things) there is a fixed quantity of moral radioactivity in the world. This is a dangerous commodity which represents the evil in the world. This substance used to be branded as ‘sin.’ On the whole, although with reluctance, people generally, when they found it outside the front door, took it in and dealt with it feeling that it was unjust not to do so. In our day the substance has been rebranded as ‘Blame’ and the rush is to cleanse and rid ourselves of it all costs by laying it at someone else’s door as quickly as possible. In the political arena this explains the huge temptation to give in to over-simplified heroes and villains narratives. Once someone has been safely designated as black-hearted villain the dumper trucks can roll in and offload industrial quantities of blame on their doorstep with impunity. It’s very satisfying. The obverse of this is the mania for acquiring virtue or at least, the appearance of virtue as, these days, surfaces are all.