Lose an election, and it is never a simple expression of people's democratic rights: the other side played dirty or some on one's own side undermined an otherwise "certain to win" campaign. In sport, it's usually the referee to blame (check out last night's Bledisloe Cup loss by the Wallabies). Fail to gain a coveted job, and favouritism is seen at work. Suffer a natural disaster, and if God isn't to blame, then local and national authorities certainly are.
A case in point: the recent disastrous earthquakes in central Italy. These centuries old villages perched precariously atop Appenine hills crumbled as the African tectonic plate pushed under the Eurasian, stretching the earth's surface to breaking point. Way back then nobody knew about tectonic plates. Building on the hilltops made eminent sense: safe from floods and easier to defend against invaders. Easy now to say that Japanese style building codes would have avoided loss of life and such destruction. Back in the 13th century the good burghers of Amatrice knew nothing of steel and concrete.
Of course there is a proper place for blame. Humans are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their choices and actions. Given today's knowledge and resources, should ancient villages be getting disaster-proofed? Should we still be settling folk on flood plains, even in cities like Brisbane? Should we be giving greater effort to disease eradication ? And so the questions multiply.
But the blame game, which seems to be built into our human psyche, isn't about such sensible considerations. It's about a quick and easy shirking of our own responsibility and finding a convenient scapegoat. Yes: the referee is an easy fall guy for the failures of 15 sweaty athletes to carry the ball across the line.
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