Definitions

I should define something. I am a highly contradictory person. That is not to say that I will contradict everything in a unilateral fashion, but that if something crosses my path that appears to be in direct violation of my particular laws of the universe, I will argue against it. I am guilty of this to a fault. Today's societal misgiving happens to be Personal Responsibility.

The mention of legislative action is a common antecedent to one of my rants, as it was today. Do not mistake me though, for a knee jerk libertarian who would rather live in some isolated wilderness than be subject to the whims of a legislative body. I have no delusions of actual self government, but do have fantasies about Personal Responsibility.

I think that Personal Responsibility (yes capitalized) is one of the key underlying factors in some of the largest social changes that I have been witness to. Hand in hand with a burning desire to attribute every action, be it a tsunami, dog bite or allergic reaction, with intent, Personal Responsibility has reduced our social climate to that of a nursery school where every child runs to teacher (court) for validation (legislation) after skinning their knee.

I see that you are not convinced. Well, here's an example: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/111027760388.htm

and another:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11984

Some of you may refute my second example by citing this one:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/03/10/fat.lawsuits/

But I think that both of the above articles illustrate my example. Enough people in our society find it acceptable to blame a corporation for their own health issues that our legislative body feels the need to pass legislation codifying regarding the issue.

Or maybe I'll just point out that none of us even has the option of eating peanuts on an airplane anymore even though "Peanut or tree nut allergies affect approximately 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent of Americans, respectively." That is 6 or 4 people out of every thousand (source: National institute for Allergy and Infectious diseases) who have an allergic reaction to nuts.

So, I am sure that if you haven't already asked yourself, you will be asking soon enough "who do you blame?" That's easy enough I blame myself. I have not done anything to rectify the situation. I have not taken to the streets or the schools to educate the masses about the liberating effects of personal responsibility. I have not shouted from street corners that if you take responsibility for your own internal conception of the world as well as for the reverberations that you make in other peoples conceptual and physical realities, that you might just be able to spend more time doing what you want and need to be doing, rather than blaming someone or something else for getting in your way. Sometimes no one is at fault. Sometime there is no reason to the events in our lives. No matter how hard we try we cannot keep the world safe for everyone. And I argue that it is too high a price to charge against our personal freedoms to perpetuate a cultural trend that limits the options of the majority in order to accommodate the possibility of harm to a few.