So as a kid, I was raised on the idea of taking responsibility and accountability for mistakes, actions, and work. I have always been kind of neurotic about making sure all that I do is proper, but I’ve lately been questioning if it’s even worth it.
Being an adult, all I ever see is evasion of responsibility.
Evasion of taxes Evasion of liability in car accidents Evasion of responsibility for mistakes etc.
For example, if you get into a car-wreck, the first thing anyone does is try to pin responsibility and liability on you for injuries and property even if you were in the right.
If something goes wrong, it’s never that person’s fault. If something goes right, it wasn’t just your work.
Idk, it’s a really random thought I had this morning. No one wants to take the blame, I get that, but the idea of evading responsibility is so deeply ingrained in our culture, that insurance companies use AI to auto-reject claims to avoid payouts.
I could go on with this little reflection, but I just find it so hypocritical that I was raised to act responsibly when American society’s MO is the exact opposite in the most fundamental ways.
See, that’s the whole fucking problem: as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that even if you want to be ethical, systems in society have been designed by sociopaths to exploit that inclination and punish you for it. From a game theory perspective, trying to be a good person in 2025 America has become a losing strategy.
The adversarial court system is one example, but increasingly fucking everything is like that. Tipping at restaurants is a tax on being nice. Deregulated utilities, insurance companies, telecoms, and all sorts of recurring-payment businesses like that form confusopolies to punish customers who don’t threaten to switch to competitors every six months. With digital goods, rentals are misrepresented as sales. There are contracts of adhesion with mandatory binding arbitration clauses everywhere. Everybody tries to screw you at every turn, daring you to go full Karen to fight with them to honor their agreements.
UK is the same. If you have TV Licensing goons show up and let them in and try to explain that you don’t need a TV, they’ll pin something on you. Best thing to do is shut the door in their face.
A while ago there was a guy walking back from his allotment and he got arrested by armed police for his trowel looking like a knife. He was told that he’ll need to wait a while for a solicitor, but could take an interview and be out soon without one. He did that thinking it was best, but they gave him a caution over it (which is basically only given if you make an admission of guilt, but it’s a warning and won’t go to trial, however, it appears on your record). My speculation is, he likely talked to them and tried to explain, and one likely said something like “yes but this could be used as a weapon? If someone attacked you, would you use it to defend yourself? There, you’ve admitted to carrying a weapon”