For someone looking to escape accountability for their own poor behavior, our society today offers a plethora of ready-made pseudo-psychological excuses. Just self-diagnose yourself as a victim based on what you’ve heard on a podcast or TikTok and you can now blame your “disease”/parents/ex/society…anyone but yourself.
- ADHD
- Avoidant Attached
- PTSD
- Anxiety
- Traumatized
- Toxic relationships
- Social Media addiction
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Narcissistic
- Depressed
I don’t think people are much different today than they were 20 years ago. Or 50 years ago. Or 100 years ago. Or 1000 years ago. Even a brief reading of history, essays, novels or newspapers will illuminate human behavior motivated by greed, lust, envy, pride, guilt, shame, fear, love, hate and anger across the centuries.
Excuses, accountability and agency varied according to the social norms at the time, as well as individuals’ characters and moral codes.
Bad behavior was blamed on evil spirits, a witch’s curse or punishment from a deity. Or poor upbringing and a bad lineage.
I imagine across all the ages there are always some people who take responsibility for their behavior. They apologize and make amends when they have wronged others. They try to follow the golden rule. They accept the consequences of their actions.
These are the people I choose to associate with.
The others, I associate with as little as possible.