Avoiding blame is something children outgrow in a healthy environment. They learn not to blame brother of sister for taking the cookie, and they learn why it's important. They learn that when they were caught taking the cookie without asking, that the action was their own, they chose to do it, and that when Mom sent them to their room, it was not Mom doing something "mean" to them, or being unfair; they learn that their action had a consequence. They learn why it's wrong to cheat, and they learn the rewards of self-respect and respecting others. However in modern culture, there is a growing trend of blame avoidance in adults, who apparently never learned to take responsibility for their actions. This points to a culture where children who avoided blame were rewarded more than for being accountable for their actions. In a bully culture where bullying goes unchecked, children will receive negative attention for positive, forward thinking, respectful behavior. The only rewards in a bully culture a child receives is from pleasing the bullies around them, whether they be other children, adults, or both. Since bullies are intrinsically immature, a mature response by a child will be met with derision, ridicule, and often verbal or even physical abuse. Taking responsibility for one's actions will be rewarded or punished based on the bully's MOOD AT THE TIME, and also on the bully's personal perception of how the situation affects him or herself. Bullies do not think objectively, their concern is only how something or someone affects themselves for good or ill. Not about how something affects another, in a personal way or in a big picture way. Bullies make a habit of blame-shifting, putting the blame for something they did to cause pain or difficulty on others; their goal is to always be without blame, and they magnify blame on others, whether the blame was shifted onto a person or whether they took responsibility themselves. In this way, a Bully Culture inevitably creates a Blame Culture, where more people avoid blame, and shift it onto someone or something else. Nothing gets resolved, nothing gets fixed, quality control and quality of life goes down the tubes. This leads to the breakdown of the society.
"Victim blaming is holding the victims of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment to be entirely or partially responsible for the unfortunate incident that has occurred in their life.
"Blame shifting
"Blaming others can lead to a "kick-the-dog effect" where individuals in a hierarchy [or who think they are in a hierarchy] blame their immediate subordinate,[or who they fantasize to be their subordinate], and this propagates down the [real or imagined] hierarchy until the lowest rung (the "dog"). A 2009 experimental study has shown that blaming can be contagious even for uninvolved onlookers.
"We constantly consciously and unconsciously make judgments about other people. Our basis for judging others may be partly ingrained, negative and rigid indicating some degree of grandiosity.
Blaming is also a way of devaluing others. The end result is that the blamer feels superior. Others are seen as less worthwhile making the blamer "perfect". Off-loading blame means putting the other person down by emphasizing his or her flaws.[1] ...
Read further about blame:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame
"Victim blaming is holding the victims of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment to be entirely or partially responsible for the unfortunate incident that has occurred in their life.
"Blame shifting
"Blaming others can lead to a "kick-the-dog effect" where individuals in a hierarchy [or who think they are in a hierarchy] blame their immediate subordinate,[or who they fantasize to be their subordinate], and this propagates down the [real or imagined] hierarchy until the lowest rung (the "dog"). A 2009 experimental study has shown that blaming can be contagious even for uninvolved onlookers.
"We constantly consciously and unconsciously make judgments about other people. Our basis for judging others may be partly ingrained, negative and rigid indicating some degree of grandiosity.
Blaming is also a way of devaluing others. The end result is that the blamer feels superior. Others are seen as less worthwhile making the blamer "perfect". Off-loading blame means putting the other person down by emphasizing his or her flaws.[1] ...
Read further about blame:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame
