The Cult of Excuse

Life is not fair. Anyone who has ever dealt with a government institution knows that government is inevitably less fair. Never the less, it is effective politics to claim that life can be made fair because fairness is undefined and carries a beloved connotation. This idea of fairness has evolved into something particularly despicable recently, a cult of excuse. The obsession with victim hood has turned victimizers into victims, and has made all excuses reasons to behave inhumanely. This has eviscerated traditional morality, something the American left has tried to do since the turn of the century along with their fascist analogs in Europe.

There is a very popular opinion among those on the left and some on the very far right that the attacks of September 11th 2001 were the fault of American foreign policy. This may be effective, although ignorant, as a political argument, but morally it is complete hogwash. There simply is no fault to speak of. Terrorist chose to take a particular action in order to make a political point, an action that is, no matter what the case, wrong. America had helped Bin Laden free Afghanistan from communism, Bin Laden went after the U.S. when Kuwait refused help from him and took help from the U.S. instead. Yet besides the reality of the situation, the cult of excuse took hold, ignoring all rational political and moral realities.

A more recent event has shown that this cult of excuse is incredibly pervasive. Three hikers were picked up by Iranian authorities in Iraq and charged with spying. When the last two were finally released, they expressed an odd opinion. Although they did admit they were held unlawfully and charged with crimes they were most certainly not guilty or capable of, they placed a majority of blame on their home country, the United States. Citing American foreign policy as the reason they were held. Factually, Iran is an oppressive regime that has committed atrocities on their own people, and their behavior is a reflection of this and a reflection of the weakness and permissiveness of America’s new foreign policy of appeasement. The moral reality of this incident is simple. Iran imprisoned three innocent people on trumped up charges, which is simply wrong. The cult of excuse is so ever present that despite knowing that Iran’s actions were inexcusable, they still showed sympathies to their captures reminiscent of Stockholm syndrome.

Simply put, there is no excuse for doing what is invariably wrong. Civilization relies on this concept. Yet time and again, excuses are provided for wrong doing by third parties or by the victims themselves. What this develops is a platform by which to blame something other than the individual. Individuals, being imperfect, are happy to oblige this way of thinking. While those making the excuses use the blame that should fall on the individual as a political weapon. The victimizers are obliged to victimize more, thus creating more fodder of blame to be used politically. It works out very well for politicians, civil servants and those who have something to gain from said blame, but is utter poison to society and the victimizers’ next victim.