Pointing Fingers and Blame-shifting

Junior Ganymede had a great post about Lehi’s Vision and the people pointing the fingers. The post author had been out with the missionaries and the woman they were teaching had some insights that were expounded upon, here’s a small snippet:

The fingers are being pointed to single out people for mockery. But she also saw it as a way of shifting responsibility. I think she is right.

The pointing finger is the finger that assigns responsibility. When it points to mock, it is designating the scapegoat. If the scapegoat is not explicitly given the blame, then the role of the scapegoat is to validate the existence of the inner circle by creating someone who is not part of the inner circle. And in an inner circle, by nature, questions of responsibility do not arise. One is not judged on merit but on membership.

The great and spacious building is key to understanding the modern structure (the Cathedral, That Hideous Strength, the Clerisy, the New Class, the Polygon, etc.). It explains its relationship to status. It highlights its divorce from reality, its existence in a purely social and symbolic world.

Understanding that the modern structure is a way of shifting blame and avoiding responsibility is also a valuable insight. It explains the victim sweepstakes and the grievance mongering. (A spiritually degenerative pursuit, obviously).

The blame-shifting aspect is what caught my attention. Today’s pointing fingers manifest themselves as mockery, belittling, snarkiness, sarcasm, rudeness, etc. There is so much viciousness in this world, particularly the online world, where a feeling of detachment and anonymity fuels a culture of disrespect. Rather than fine apparel, people adorn themselves with finely-crafted snark intended to crucify some soul in the hopes of impressing… who exactly and why exactly?

When you point the finger of scorn, you’re right there with them, and this is no light matter; the great and spacious building is the church of the Devil (2 Nephi 28:18). If you find that you are elevating at the expense of another, then there you are.

This all reminds me of something C.S. Lewis once wrote in Mere Christianity:

“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man… It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition is gone, pride is gone.”

Remember that this building represented the “pride of the world” (1 Nephi 11:36) which means that as soon as all of us stop making comparisons and trying to put ourselves above one another, the building comes crashing down (1 Nephi 11:36, 2 Nephi 28:18). There are so many places in the scriptures that emphasize the principle of us esteeming each other equals, as one.