<p>I usually blame faults on the system (and rarely harbor resentment towards individual people). People are very impressionable to societal influences - and never have the opportunity to realize all memes that they have a potential interest in. As a result, they often become closed to alternative and more effective heuristics of performing actions. There is almost no space left to free will, that is, if there is any space left to it at all. </p>
<p>But yet, individuals produce systems. Still, it’s not as if they realize the systems that they produce - complexity theory predicts that many constituent parts, unaware of their goals, can form a synergistic system that is completely independent of its parts. </p>
<p>But when you don’t really believe in free will per se - everything seems to be a part of the system. I guess it allows me to look at the world from a 3rd person perspective. Everything “stupid” and “incompetent” becomes amusing as a result.</p>
<p>Do go a little besserwisser on you, I tend to shy away from both ideas of determinism or fatalism - and those of unlimited choice in a vacuum. Systems limit our horizons of thought: some concepts will be more pervasive than others, depending on your socioeconomic status, culture, etc. At the same time, systems don’t arise out of nowhere. In the end, systems are reproduced simply because we all help maintain them on a daily basis.</p>
<p>I tend to find the idea of “blame” a little odd to use to begin with, especially when talking about social issues. The rule tends to be that for any drastic change to take place in how people act, a change has to occur at the societal level (for example, gender roles really only drastically shift when economic changes take place). Now if you want to blame any specific individual for whatever it may be, that’s all good, too - but condemning one paedophile for his urges won’t explain why the behavior itself exists and gets more and more common.</p>
<p>i’m no where near being a fatalist and etc. and very much believe in free will. individuals are to blame for the results of whatever action he/she takes; problems in general, however may be attributed to an inherently failing system.</p>
<p>Individuals are too blame. If the system didn’t work, why would there be thousands of millonaires and rags-to-riches people? It’s based on individual determination, effort, and such. Blaming the system is giving up without even try and allowing others to give up.</p>
<p>But… there AREN’T thousands of “rags-to-riches people.” The American Dream is largely a myth, as is the idea that Horatio Alger-like victories are commonplace. Social mobility has decreased immensely from the mid 19th century to now (in America).</p>
<p>I believe that actions themselves can only be attributed to the individual who performed them, although “the system” raises the probability of the individual acting one way over the other. If someone is born in a very poor sector of a city, is constantly exposed to violence, and receives a poor education, the probability of that person becoming involved in, say, gangs is increased. The “system” didn’t force the individual into joining a gang, but it created environments that favored that outcome.</p>
<p>Blehhh. I usually talk myself in circles when trying to answer this question.</p>
<p>Evidently, the social environment DOES play a role. But again, you don’t have to play by it. Last year 400 Billionaire Americans made the top 400 U.S. list. That’s just billonaires. What about millonaires in America? Obviously, the masses are not wealthy, but there is a huge percentage that are. </p>
<p>The education system enables kids from all background to pull a “rags-to-riches”. For example, a kid from the “ghetto” can still go to school with honors and AP courses and such. He can still join sport clubs. He can still apply to college and can still get in. There are federal grants and scholarships specially targeted towards those low-income students. From there, they can become doctors or lawyers and make much more money than their parents ever did. From there, they could even begin their own law firm and such. </p>
<p>But see the pattern? It’s all based on effort and drive. I know, 'cause I remember buying second-hand clothes when I was little and my parents washing cars for a living (which I’m very proud of by the way). I still attend a “ghetto” school and yet I’m able to take advantage of all the opportunities given to me: honors, APs, dual enrollment, community school, county-wide academic programs, and everything. And if you see my curriculum, it rivals that of a rich kid. </p>
<p>I know that when you compare the number of kids who play to their socioeconomic environment to the ones that don’t, the greater percentage falls on the former. But the system DOES make it possible for even the poorest kids to succeed. It’s all based on personal ambition and work which makes it very fair. Why should anyone not willing to work their butts off get the same results as someone who did?</p>
<p>Point is, in my opinion, the system does work and it does enable everyone willing to work to be successful. People just have to be strong.</p>