Scapegoats
Grandad November 8th, 2011
There were three completely separate bits of news over the last couple of days.
They all have one thing in common though.
They all show this modern preoccupation with scapegoats.
The first was that terrible pileup on the motorway in the UK. They showed film on the Beeb last night of police scouring a rugby ground looking for “forensic evidence” to prove that a fireworks display case the accident.
What a load of fucking bollox.
Even from a distance of a couple of hundred miles I can hazard an accurate guess at the cause of the accident – people not adapting their driving to match the road conditions. We will hear all about smoke from the fireworks display blanketing the road, doubtless resulting in calls for yet more legislation. We will hear calls for reductions in motorway speed limits. Neither of those would have made the blindest bit of difference as the cause is quite plain – bad driving. This isn’t good enough though. There has to be a specific “cause” so that people can rest assured that there won’t be a repeat. Someone or something has to be blamed so it looks like the scapegoat is going to be the fireworks and the poor sods in the rugby club who held the display.
Another item is the conviction of Whacko Jackson’s doctor. What for? From what I gather he didn’t inject Whacko with anything lethal? He just left the stuff lying around and Whacko did the job himself. Whacko was a nut case of the highest order and just fell foul of the Darwinian Principle. But the people have to have someone to blame, as they can’t possibly blame Whacko. After all he was a “celebrity” who can do no wrong, so the poor doc got hammered just because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The third snippet was a small local item.
An unfortunate motorcyclist died in an accident near here. There was no one else involved – it was just one of those terrible things where a motorbike leaves the road and the rider doesn’t survive.
This ain’t good enough for the Plods though. They have to seal off the road “for forensic examination”. What in the name of fuck are they looking for? Again, they have to have a scapegoat as someone or something has to get the blame.
I don’t know why there is this obsession with blaming someone. An accident is an accident when all is said and done, and a bit of finger pointing isn’t going to bring a single person back from the dead. None of the above could have been avoided, as there is no actual cause except maybe for a bit of recklessness on the part of the victims.
Why can’t they just accept that these things happen from time to time?
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