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The madness of blame
Peeping Tom…
Kaieteur News- Humans like answers. We do not sit well with uncertainty. Especially when something terrible happens. A death. A disaster. A child gone too soon. We ask: “Who is responsible?”
But when real answers are hard to find, we invent them. It is not always conscious. It is how the mind protects itself from chaos. It is how it restores order when the world seems senseless. Psychologists call this attribution theory. It explains how people try to find causes for events. But often, we assign blame before we have facts. Because blame gives comfort. It gives direction to our anger. It makes us feel in control.
People do not need evidence. They only need suspicion. Or a rumour. Or a belief. Or a photograph. A photo of people at a pool. That is all. No context. No story. Yet, suddenly, every person in that image is guilty. Not by action, but by association. Guilt spreads like smoke. If you are near the fire, you must be feeding it.
This is how mobs form. Not only in streets, but in minds. In newsfeeds. In whispers. In social media comments. A hotel is burned. A man’s home destroyed. No proof of wrongdoing. But the crowd does not need proof. They need revenge. The fire becomes their answer. This is confirmation bias. People believe what they already want to believe. If they think someone is guilty, they will twist any fact to fit that belief. If they cannot find a fact, they will invent one. Or repeat one they heard. Or share a headline that sounds right.
Truth becomes irrelevant.
Even the dead are used. Especially the dead. A child’s death is tragic. It should bring unity. Instead, it becomes a weapon. A spark for political flames. Grief becomes a tool for gain. People stop asking what happened? They ask who benefits from this death? And then they make their own answers. Often, those answers serve a political side. Or a personal grudge.
This is not new. It has happened in every time and place. But now, it spreads faster. Lies move quicker than facts. Photos are shared before they are verified. A tweet can convict a person before a judge even speaks.
In all of this, science is pushed aside. Experts speak. They offer careful language. But people do not trust experts. They trust feelings. Emotions beat evidence. This is motivated reasoning. People bend logic to support what they already feel. If they hate someone, no amount of proof will make them innocent. If they admire someone, no amount of guilt will make them guilty.
This is how witch hunts start.
A person becomes a suspect, not because of evidence, but because they were in the wrong place. Or because they were rich. Or because they smiled in a photo. Or because someone said so.
And once the story spreads, it cannot be stopped. A lie runs free while the truth is still getting dressed.
This is how facts are twisted.
A man calls for calm. They say he is cold-hearted. A person gives a scientific explanation. They say he is covering up the truth. A timeline is corrected. They say it is being changed to hide guilt.
Everything becomes a sign of wrongdoing.
Forget that there is no proof. Forget what the experts say. Belief is stronger than evidence. We see what we want to see. We believe what fits our fear. And in this chaos, real facts get drowned. Real stories get buried. Real people get hurt. What drives this behaviour? Partly, fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear that it could happen again. Fear that it could happen to us.
If those who we look up to believes something, we feel pressure to agree. To speak out is to betray. So we nod along, even when we have doubts. And finally, anger. Anger needs a target. The more helpless we feel, the more we need someone to blame.
But this is dangerous.
Democracy needs truth. Justice needs proof. Society needs patience.
If we destroy people without evidence, we destroy ourselves. If we light fires before knowing the facts, we burn the future.
Let us pause. Let us ask. Let us think.
Let us not make monsters out of shadows. Let us not use grief for gain. Let us not let belief drown out the voice of reason. In times of pain, truth must matter more than vengeance.
That is how we remain human.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
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