Blame and Anti-Blame

Blame and Anti-Blame
Andre Willers
23 Jan 2009

Blame.
"Success has many fathers , failure has none."
"I told you so."
"I'm just doing my job."
"I'm just following orders."
"It is Their fault."

Anti-blame.
"I trust him . "
"I forgive him."
"I am loyal to him."
"I believe in him."

Hierarchical systems.
In hierarchical systems , the optimal level of power vs blame is at the number 2 spot . Any blame can be assigned to no 1 .

Hence the invention of gods or constitutions .

The process is iterative down to family level and lower .

Wives are forced into blame-roles , and many like the power without the responsibility .
The husband can do nothing right and the wife can do nothing constructive .

The same is true for organizations . A negative , blame culture is the rest-state .

Peter's Principle :
An ironic consequence is that promoting people beyond their competence actually leads to a more effective organization . It disrupts the Blame-culture .

Paradigm Shift:
Everybody agrees to shift the blame somewhere else .

Agents .
Since the primary blameworthy entity is a god , gods or states(constitutions) , everybody else are just agents and , you know , just doing their jobs .

Systems with no single no 2 or 3 (like Islam or many Corporations with a surfeit of vice-presidents) are inherently unstable and are quite inefficient .
The single most noticeable effect of this is an inability to adapt .
Hence the imminent demise of GM , Ford , etc . No clear no 2 .

It is ironic that the most important US post from a blame-system viewpoint is the Vice-President . Not a line of succession . A single , designated successor . The major advantage of inheritance by birth . A true hidden axiom .
Note that they have to stand jointly for election . Together with the maximum 8 year term , this accounts for the phenomenal success of the US governmental model .

This can be done iteratively down to any desired level .

Psychology :
Seeing the presently aware self as no 1 , a formal , deliberately designated structure as no 2 will make it more likely to appear at the next waking cycle .
Repeat .

And so it goes .

Andre