responsibility...

...is an interesting notion. it is synonomous with power and independance. if you are responsible, you have the power to make decisions. if, on the other hand, you have the power, you are usually the one held responsable. it's funny how there are so many who want power, yet so few who want responsibility.

maybe it's not responsibiliy we're talking about maybe it's accountability. accountability is the power that others have over you. nobody wants to have to answer to anyone. so, besides power and independance, what, exactly, is responsibility?

responsibility is also a word. it is a word that is used to justify a system. in a system that favors one set of people over another, the ones that are in favor must justify why. they use the word "responsibility" for two reasons: 1), to make themsleves feal deserving of their position, and 2) as an excuse for not helping the others.

Then there are poeple who say that the human animal is nothing but a social construct, the so-called "post-modernists". to them, people are simple creations of society, so they are not responsible for what they do. this is the opposite of those that use responsibility to justify inequality. they use the fallacy of that justification to justify irresponisibility.

Obviously, all of us are responsible, not just for our own actions, and our own lives, but for the society we make up. WE are society, so we can't blame "society" on our irresponsibility. however, are we acting irresponisbly when it comes to our role in society, including the inequalities of our society, including the inequalities that add to the level of irresponsibility of others? thier irresponsibility is, to an extent, our irresponsibility.