12:36 a.m. - 2003-08-16
Calling to Account
Sometimes the "Mom" instincts are too strong to deny. I've spent 28 years raising six sons and about 18 years helping in their classrooms. I'm working on Grandbabies now. A lot of my instincts about human behaviour, on an adult level, have been sharpened by that constant immersion with young people who are not accomplished liars. When they know they have done something wrong, children, as a group, exhibit fairly consistent strategies to avoid the consequences of their actions.
For example, say a loud crash is heard in a classroom and one emerges from the storeroom just off to the side to find something broken and strewn across the floor. Different responses are typical, depending on the dynamics that caused the accident. Either the majority of the witnesses will identify one or two culprits, or no one will speak up, or the blame game begins. You know the "he touched it" "Yes but you touched it first" "Well so and so pushed me so I couldn't help it" "Well I pushed you because you were bugging me" and any number of variations. If silence ensues, then what is likely happening is that the children are backing up their "best friends" or someone to whom they are obligated. Silence can also indicate a group of bullies have emerged in the classroom culture.
There's a "Little House on the Prairie" episode where Laura breaks a music box. One of the other children witnesses the accident. She blackmails Laura in a number of ways until Laura finally realizes that the only way to stop the blackmail is to confess the initial error to her father. This child had been blackmailing a number of other children as well, creating a group of unintentional bullies who were yet fully aware of their effect on others. When Laura broke the silence, it freed them all. The adult community then dealt with the child causing the dysfunction in the social group explaining to the other children why what they did was wrong and how fear was used as a tool to silence them.
Most young children aren't very convincing liars, so one can usually sort out what happened over time with a few well placed questions. Adults, on the other hand, can be incredibly skilled at lying convincingly, but the childhood patterns of behaviour still can give them away. When the blame game begins it's a pretty good indication that there's enough to go around - especially to the most vocal.
So what has that got to do with anything? Well, I don't know what the media are reporting elsewhere, but ours in Calgary is highlighting a major fingerpointing excercise between Ontario and New York politicians especially, about the origins of the balckout; with a little more between the two federal levels of government about what went wrong. Odd silence among the experts who should be able to identify the problem. Behaviors two, three and four together.
I'm guessing that the politicians in question already have a good idea of what the problem was even if they don't have details. They may have even known it was bound to occur but earlier complicity kept them silent. It appears to me that they feel any diversion is better than the truth coming out. If they can succeed in polarizing the people (taxpayers/voters)who were the victims of their collective negligence, then all the better to create chaos and confusion to hide behind as other, secondary, battles obscure the original problems.
How to deal with that and get to the truth of the real problem? The larger group in the community has to be aware of the manipulation being played out using their feelings of frustration and confusion against them. Demanding accountibility from all the politicians concerned is the only way to get at the truth. There is a book called "Holy Terror" by Flo Conway and Joe Seigelmann, both behavioural sociologists, that documents the tactics being used right now giving a lot of fairly current examples of each tactics' use in similar situations. It was written several years ago but is still applicable. It's very instructive. Oh and who would play the role of the adults in the Little House on the Prairie episode in the current scenario? Theoretically all politicians are answerable to taxpayers and electors. It might even be helpful if the media assisted - they pay taxes on major services like power too and are even more dependent on them than the average person. Qui bono?
�
�
