All posts tagged: blame

Is It You or Them? Understanding the Blame Game

Is It You or Them? Understanding the Blame Game

“It’s not you, it’s me.” With that felicitous phrase, George Costanza made another entry into the annals of Seinfeld hilarity. In this episode of the classic sitcom, George is trying to break up with a girlfriend when she turns the tables on him by breaking up first, using his proprietary phrase on him before he gets the chance. George’s ensuing indignance makes for great comedy. It came back to me the other day as I returned home from a doctor’s appointment. My doctor had irritated me with a general lack of consideration. But upon reflection, everyone was irritating me that morning. Could all these people be irritating on the same day? It seemed so, but we all know better. As had happened many times since I had quit my psychiatry practice due to health problems, I often found myself in pain, tired, or frustrated. All of this led me to being frequently irritable, as I was that day. Maybe it wasn’t them. It was me. But I was not yet ready to drop the charges. …

Assassination conspiracy theories? Blame Trump

Assassination conspiracy theories? Blame Trump

Let’s be clear up front: There is no evidence that Donald Trump has staged any of the three high-profile attempts on his life in the past two years. I’ll likely get some angry reader feedback to that assertion because a lot of people believe at least one of the would-be assassinations — and quite possibly all three — were false flag operations. A new survey from NewsGuard shows that 54% of Americans are open to the theory that at least one of the attacks was staged, with only 38% saying definitively they believe all three were real. When asked about each separate assault — the 2024 shooting that grazed Trump’s ear at a Pennsylvania campaign stop, the arrest of the armed man at the president’s West Palm Beach golf course later that year and the recent incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — fewer than half said these events were authentic. Once in a while, a conspiracy theory may be wrong but still manages to channel authentic frustrations. This particular one is false, but …

Suits LA star candidly takes blame for season one cancellation

Suits LA star candidly takes blame for season one cancellation

Stephen Amell has blamed his performance in Suits LA for the show’s early cancellation. NBC’s short-lived Suits spinoff, which was axed last May after one season, starred Amell, 44, as Ted Black, a former New York federal prosecutor who reinvents himself as an entertainment lawyer and moves to Los Angeles to represent some of the city’s most powerful clients. Speaking on a recent episode of Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast, the Arrow alum reflected on the show’s brief run, admitting: “It wasn’t good enough. I think that anything that ends not on your terms is a failure.” While Amell acknowledged noticing early “issues” with the production, he ultimately insisted, “the blame rests with me.” “Whatever problem you have with the show — because I think that there were issues — it’s my job to solve those, to smooth them over, to gloss them up with some type of performance or something that, tangible or otherwise, that covers up those mistakes,” he said. open image in gallery Stephen Amell led the short-lived ‘Suits LA’ as …

Who Is to Blame for Our Choices?

Who Is to Blame for Our Choices?

Do you blame others for the choices you are making? Have you blamed others for the previous choices you have made? To shed more light on these questions, you might also ask yourself: “What am I responsible for, and what power do I have?” From there, you might agree with this self-reflective response: “I am responsible for, and I’ve got the power over what I think, do, say, learn, and choose” (Purje, 2014). The Power of Agency William Glasser (1986) argues that all behaviour is self-selected, which, self-evidently, means the individual decides how they will think, act, and respond. Ultimately, according to Glasser, “all living creatures, from simple to complex, control themselves.” As such, individuals are accountable for their attitudes, actions, choices, and behaviour. Added to this is the work of philosophers Immanuel Kant and Jean-Paul Sartre. Kant argues that individuals possess a universal and inescapable power, namely the power to choose. Kant also maintains that every person (regardless of circumstances, culture, upbringing, or environment) has the capacity to determine their actions through what he …

Abdelhakim Sefrioui believes everyone is to blame, except himself

Abdelhakim Sefrioui believes everyone is to blame, except himself

Abdelhakim Sefrioui appeared just as he had before. Tireless in argument, Sefrioui proved to be an exhausting debater: a master of diversion, adept at casuistry and a virtuoso of circumlocution. His interrogation on Thursday, February 19, at the retrial for the murder of Samuel Paty before the Paris special criminal court, was almost identical to his first trial, which ended with his conviction on December 20, 2024, sentencing him to 15 years in prison for his role in the crime. Unlike his co-defendant Brahim Chnina, aged 54 but who seemed 20 years older, the 66-year-old Sefrioui appeared unchanged since his conviction for his involvement in the hate campaign that led to the death of the history and geography teacher on October 16, 2020. And, unlike Chnina, a father whose daughter attended Paty’s middle school and who, the previous day, admitted to sharing some responsibility for the fatal spiral that claimed the teacher’s life, the Islamist activist’s position remained entirely unaltered. Read more Subscribers only Appeals trial for murder of teacher Samuel Paty focuses on defendants’ …

TV fans have become too entitled – but showrunners only have themselves to blame

TV fans have become too entitled – but showrunners only have themselves to blame

Nine years after Netflix introduced us to the town of Hawkins and its Dungeons and Dragons-loving school kids, Stranger Things is finally reaching its conclusion. The second half of season five arrived on Boxing Day, teeing up the drama’s two-hour-long finale, which drops on New Year’s Day. Unfortunately, things aren’t going according to plan. Rather than creating yet more hype for the conclusion of one of its flagship shows, season five volume two has proven disappointing for viewers, many of whom were hoping for a little more action and at least one shock death thrown in for good measure. The situation has not been helped by volume two’s “Twixmas” release date, which has meant that many Stranger Things fans have little better to do than spend hours on social media, descending into a frenzy over what may have gone wrong and how the latest episodes could be retrospectively improved. This backlash cycle follows an all-too-familiar pattern. It typically starts with a streaming service releasing the latest season of a much-hyped series, which then sparks an …