Miles Jackson wrote:
>
> Well, his argument is that the imputation of responsibility is an
> effective tool that the powerful use to control and punish the
> powerless.
Whatever view is used to ground doctrines of responsibility, that word is the vilest in the english language. Almost without exception it is only used when the only possible result can be the user expressing superiority to the person to whom it is applied. And it _never_ leads to desirable action: it either implicitly condemns such action or justifies some form of quietism. E.g., Human nature is responsible for the ills of the world so why should I do anything. The Left is responsible for the right's strength so why should I bother to work to build the left. Of course a supreme use of responsibility as a mode of control is in reference to abortion: she is responsible for becoming pregnant so why should she be able to abort the thing just so she can go to the prom? (Which, of course, is a perfectly good reason for aborting the thing.)
Carrol