Why Do We Want Problems to Be Someone’s Fault?

Il est tentant de reporter systématiquement la faute sur le monde et les autres. Quand on se sent mal, angoissé, déprimé, irritable, fatigué intérieurement, on en attribue bien vite la responsabilité à l’extérieur : tensions avec les collègues de travail, querelles avec le conjoint... la couleur du ciel elle-même peut devenir une cause de souffranc

Few people think their problems are a result of system failure. Most see their troubles as isolated events, blaming fate, horoscopes, bad luck, karma, God, the devil, neighbors, competitors, family members, the weather, the president, Congress, liberals, conservatives, global warming, too much TV, lack of money, too much money, the educational syst

When our attention is primarily directed to how wrong things are, we lose our power to act effectively. We may have difficulty understanding the total context, discussing what to do next, or overlooking the people who “should not have done what they did” as we think about a solution.

Often, looking for an explanation really means looking for someone to blame.