Blame game is a situation in which people attempt to blame others rather than trying to resolve a problem. In blame game you see accusations exchanged among people who refuse to accept sole responsibility for some undesirable event.
Have you ever been a victim of false accusations? Have you been blamed for what you know nothing about? When people suffer setbacks it is usually convenient to shift the blame to others but themselves. When people face repercussions from their own bad choices, their confusions may push them to shift the blame from themselves to a scapegoat.
People play blame game to dodge responsibility and escape culpability and guilt. It’s so convenient therefore to shift the blame to someone else.
People play blame game craftily when they fear that accepting responsibility for the error will dent their reputation or negatively impact on them.
People who play the blame game are usually insecure about their identities and want to escape the calamitous consequences of their poor decisions. It’s usually a case of passing the buck and shifting the goalpost by pointing fingers at others or outright denial.
In ancient societies there were people excluded or segregated as outcasts or undesirables who serve as scapegoats. These unfortunate souls take the blame for disasters and are made scapegoats to be sacrificed to the gods.
Religion is driven by blame game. The Devil is the fall guy who takes the blame for everything negative and destructive. Without the Devil religion is gone with the wind. Adam and Eve were disrupted by the Devil. Even Jesus after fasting for forty days and nights was tempted by the old Devil. Even in Islam Moslems take up stones against the Devil. In my village sometime in January 1984 a woman was caught in adultery only for her to blame the Devil to the utter chagrin of everyone.
Playing the blame game is unproductive and can lead to complications. Shifting blame to scapegoats further aggravates the situation and diverts attention away from the process that caused the outcome.
Today pastors and witch doctors ply their trades igniting the vicious cycle of blame game. If you consult a prophet for whatever reason you’ll be serenaded with ancestral powers, demonic uncle or spirit husband. These passing the buck instead of helping you harms you because it distracts you from the reality of the situation and plunges you into superstition and confusion.
The blame game has created bad blood in families. It has pitted brother against brother and father against mother. It has broken homes. It has fermented suspicion among friends and neighbors. Blame game fouls the atmosphere with competition and trepidation. Blame game is toxic to relationships of all kinds.
President Buhari once addressed the countries youngsters as “lazy youths”. Our leaders blame the citizens and the citizens blame the leaders. The blame game is mutual here. The leaders are not serious about creating systems and the masses are not serious about creating serious leaders and so the vicious cycle of corruption continues.
The impact of blame game is harrowing across the board because it’s myopic and destructive. Blame game blinds us to the big picture and short-circuit our capacity for problem solving. Over time, a culture of blame game will cause everyone to suffer. It will inhibit solution and innovation, as people are afraid to come out clean and instead play the ostrich.
At the personal level, playing the blame game will make you unattractive to upworldly mobile people. Great minds respect people who take responsibility for their actions and inactions. People who are grumpy and gross are unattractive. People who are luminous and humble are in high demand because they are dynamic and organic. If you cannot apologize for your errors you’re a modular and dangerous character.
When Kuje prison was attacked nobody took responsibility, nobody resigned. That’s Nigeriana. In Nigeria nobody resigns from office no matter the circumstances. If the Kuje prison break had happened even in Ghana or Rwanda heads would roll. Instead Raul Aregbesola the minister of Interior Affairs was passing the buck in a blame game. The president set up a Committee to investigate the incident but everything has since been swept under the carpet.
When something goes wrong, it may be convenient to bury your head in the sand playing the ostrich but it’ll be beneficial in the overall if you don’t play the blame game but go forensic looking at the issues microscopically and telescopically.