Who would you blame and why

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Ok, I just wanted a serious response of who you would blame. Let's use an analogy. Suppose you bought a car and it malfunctioned. Suppose it turned out that it was the fault of some guy on the assembly line who didn't screw something in tight enough. Would you hold him personally responsible? Why or why not?

-- Amy Leone (aleone@amp.com), July 08, 1998

Answers

If it causes me to drive the car off a cliff it doesn't really matter, does it?

If Y2K turns out to be 'just a blip' then we can spend several years debating blame. I happen to believe we've gone over the cliff and are headed for the rocks below. So, why waste time?

-- Rocky Knolls (rknolls@hotmail.com), July 08, 1998.


Because I just want to know where people think personal responsibility ends and corporate responsiblity begins. I'm just curious where people draw the line. Do you take personal responsibility for what you produce?

-- Amy Leone (aleone@amp.com), July 08, 1998.

Amy, this whole debacle comes down to trust, doesn't it? For the record, I tend to place myself somewhere in the middle of the road. I am confident y2k will not mean armageddon and that heading for the hills is not the answer, and yet, I have my suspicions that it'll be a little bit more than just a blip on the screen.

It has been reiterated from time to time here about the internet acting as the only outlet on y2k (save for CBN). One has to wonder why that is. COnspiratorialists will state that it is an effort to not incite hysteria on a global scale. The laid-back crowd will tell you that it is proof that this is not the problem that Yourdon and De Jager (as well as North and McIlvaney ) speak of.

To answer your question at this stage of the game is pointless, then. So many are writing books now, and making a profit off of other peoples' anxieties, that if NOTHING happens on 1/1/00, THEY should be rounded up. Yet conversely, if many systems fail and our way of life is seriously disrupted or altered, we all share in some of the blame. Once again, complacency or the feeling that 'someone else will take care of the problem' will have been our un-doing.

On other boards, I have read wonderful remarks like, "I'll eat while you die" and "I'll be laughing as I step over your corpse" in response to survivalist preparations and the like. To my way of thinking, this group gets the blame...for sparking anxiety, fear and downright hatred in the face of a coming deadline. Like Lou Holtz once said, "if you don't make a total commitment to whatever you're doing, then you start looking to bail out the first time the boat starts leaking. It's tough enough getting that boat to the shore with everybody rowing, let alone when a guy stands up and starts putting his life jacket on."

-- Professor K (PROFESSORK@prodigy.com), July 08, 1998.


Well said Professor!

-- Barb-Douglas (bardou@yahoo.com), July 08, 1998.

Excellent response, PROFESSORK. However, did you HAVE to use Lou Holtz as a quote? He couldn't win at ND...or Minnesota...or .... (grin) Obviously, he was a better speaker than coach!!

(exiting lighter moment...)

-- Anti fools (Anti_fools@usa.net), July 08, 1998.



Just a quick observation...

Y2K will bring out the best, and the worst, of what the human race has to offer.

Y2K has no feelings, and it won't be kind to those who are not prepared. It will just happen. And it won't care who it happens to.

Looking to blame someone is the natural reaction of those who won't take the responsibility to solve the problems they're faced with. While they're whining and trying to find someone to blame, they're also hoping that whoever is to blame will step up to the plate and solve it. It won't happen.

So, instead of wasting a lot of energy looking for someone to blame (and even if you could find someone to blame, what are they going to do for you?) I would set my energies on learning what the problem is and making sure that you don't wind up being the "one to blame" for not being prepared after having been warned. :)

-- Pastor Chris (chrisbr@ptinet.net), July 08, 1998.


BLAME is an arse-covering exercise (sorry, that's "ass" to Americans!) as used by politicians to weasel out of the firing line, and by lawyers to litigate for damages. If Y2K is as bad as I fear it might be, I don't envision much place for either profession in the not-too-distant future. I have made many efforts to awaken others to the danger, but it is a waste of my time and energy. I think all of us must concentrate our efforts in the direction where it will do the most good. Others will believe when they're ready and not before... There's going to be a lot of "pot luck" whether even the best-prepared of us survives in the end. I have few illusions on that score. This is no time for gloating, accusing or whining. God help all of us!

-- David Harvey (vk2dmh@hotmail.com), July 14, 1998.

As I understand it, the mm/dd/yy date format was an official government standard codified way back in 1972, by (I think) the Department of Energy.

-- Kevin Simon (ksimon@ts.co.nz), September 20, 1998.

I don't think that Amy was looking for someone to point a finger at. I get the impression she wants to know who the 'currently un-informed mass public' will blame.

-- areseejay (arseejay@aol.com), September 20, 1998.

The thing that makes me crazy is the uncertainty of it all. Who really knows? It makes me feel ludicrous sometimes. BUT: if it does happen and I became aware "oh, so long ago" and didn't prepare, of course I would have myself to blame.

There are few certainties in life. We plan to do our best. The level of belief isn't sinister, it's just contrary to what we've always known. There's always a fix for everything. Well, maybe this time there isn't. So if "they" break it, I can just fix my little corner of the world.

-- margie mason (mar3mike@aol.com), September 23, 1998.



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