Dear Editor,
I am getting more and more upset with the state of our societytoday. Namely, the fact that, nobody seems to take responsibilityfor anything that they do anymore; it is always someoneelse’s fault. It started years ago with the lawsuits againstcigarette companies. People sued the large cigarette companiesbecause they started smoking and got cancer. These people refuse totake any of the blame for the fact that they got cancer. Thecigarette companies literally put the cigarettes in their mouthsand blew the carcinogenic chemicals into their lungs. These peoplerefuse to place any blame on themselves for starting to smoke and,consequently, want large sums of money to remedy theirpredicament.
This, in turn, evolved into victim’s families suing thegun manufacturers like Smith & Wesson, because someone killedtheir loved one using one of their products. The gun manufactureshave not tried to hide anything from the public. They make it clearthat their guns are safe, if you are the one that is holding it.They also make it clear that their guns are designed to kill, ifyou are on the receiving end. Their product does what it isdesigned to do, and they get sued for it. Smith & Wesson owesyour family money because one of their guns killed your son ordaughter? No, this is not right at all. The person who pulled thetrigger committed the murder, not some massive facelesscorporation. We always seem to place the blame where the biggestcheckbook is located. We are lawsuit hungry and craving money.
Today in the news, a Tennessee family is suing Sony, RockstarGames and Wal-Mart for the death of one of their sons. What didthese three mega-corporations do to contribute to Aaron’sdeath? They produced and sold a Playstation video game called”Grand Theft Auto III.” The two boys that went on theshooting-spree-joy-ride blamed this video game for their troublesand used it to justify their motives. They said that it was thevideogame that made them do it. The victim’s family evidentlyagrees, since they are suing the companies for a combined $246million. Again, we don’t blame the people who actuallycommitted the act. We blame, instead, the people with the largestwallet.
This is not just a broad national problem either. It is aproblem that occurs here at SMU as well. I attended a”discussion” on the “power of porn”presented by Campus Crusade for Christ. It turned out to actuallybe more of a pulpit preaching session than a discussion, butthat’s beside the point. The speaker talked about the life ofa porn star and even showed clips of an interview with one from”Dateline.” He blamed the consumers of porn for ruiningthis porn star’s life. To me, blaming consumers ofpornography for a woman’s decision to enter the porn industryis just as ridiculous as blaming a fraternity for your bad gradesbecause they chose to throw a party the night before your big test.It is not your fault that you went to a party and didn’t stayhome and study, it’s the fraternity’s fault forthrowing the party. It’s never your fault. No one can seem tostand up and take the blame, so we always end up passing thebuck.
The problem is so bad at SMU that we even have a policyoutlining “Personal Responsibility” on page 104 of theSMU Policies for Community Life. It states, “I understandthat I am responsible for my own behavior.” This onlydemonstrates the sad state of our society when we have to bereminded that we are responsible for the things we do. Thank God wehave this policy at SMU. Can we make it a national law as well?
Where are we headed with all our blame-casting and scapegoating?In a nation where you can sue McDonalds for making you fat,what’s next? Why don’t we sue Jim Beam and Jack Danielswhen a drunk driver kills our children? Why don’t we sue Visaand Master Card when we run up credit-card debt and go bankrupt?Why don’t we sue each and every member of society forcontributing to the lowered morality we live in? Our nation is tooafraid to stand up and take the blame. There is always someone elseto take the fall or some sort of extenuating circumstance thatjustifies what we did. We seem to never be able to point to asingle person and say “they did it.” The group that isresponsible for all of our problems and plights is always a massivefaceless wallet of some sort. I can only hope that someone will setan example for our society by standing up and saying, “I didit, I’m sorry, and it won’t happen again.” Maybethen, we will learn to take responsibility for our own actions.
Sincerely,
Matthew Kreth
Junior biology major
