When we “blame” we are regarding and treating the behavior of others as ultimately originating from them. The key word here is “ultimately” because while we may agree that someone has behaved in a particular way, and that they were the acting agent, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they were the ultimate cause of their behavior. They are the proximate cause, but not the ultimate cause. What ultimately causes us to behave as we do usually isn’t any one event like losing a job, or single factor such as being genetically predisposed towards being anxious. While a single factor or event may tip the balance toward someone moving in a particular direction what makes it significant is the way it interacts with all of the other determinants which precede and follow.
Our determinants which cause us to make the choices we do are themselves unchosen. Our unchosen genetic and environmental determinants and the way they interact make us who we are and compel us to act as we do. Given the determinants which precede any given moment in our lives, we are always behaving in the only way possible.
Fully appreciating this sequence should enable us to remove blame and its attendant anger and outrage from our institutional response to those who harm others. That said, it’s clear that on a personal level anger and outrage confers a survival benefit valuable in circumstances where it is necessary to physically defend ourselves or others. Outside of such rare moments of conflict, however, the value of anger and outrage greatly diminishes and the longer we retain such feelings the more they can impair our emotional health.
Still, if you or someone you love has been harmed by another, reacting with anger and outrage is understandable. Fortunately, adopting a more effective institutional response to those who harm others does not require the elimination of anger and outrage from our individual reactions. Yet there are many who fear that if we, as a society were to stop blaming people who are harmful to others it would diminish society’s capacity to protect itself – but this is simply wrong.
To not blame those who have harmed others does not mean that society fails to intervene and do whatever is needed to ensure that additional harm is prevented. But assigning blame, and the anger that it engenders causes us to respond in ways that are excessive, costly, cruel, and only minimally effective. If we can let go of blame, a world of less costly, more humane, and most importantly, more effective ways to increase our public safety and security become possible.