Life is mostly about judgement. Judgements are reactions. They’re always automatic and based on everything we have experienced – in other words, our entire lives up to now.
When something occurs, such as discovering the pasta section in the supermarket has been scavenged by desperate people, we have an instant reaction (a judgement) about these people.
Yet we know nothing about them. Nothing whatsoever. All we know is the shelf is empty, we don’t like it, and (most of us) feel the need to blame somebody or something because it’s not our fault.
But this has nothing to do with anyone’s fault. It’s how we’ve been brought up. It’s how our culture has shaped us to think. If blame brings survival, we embrace it with a vengeance (Trump is the epitome of this – a walking masterclass in the blame game).
This is why the old adage of “throwing rocks at your enemies” works as a persuasion tool.
It divides like no other. Those that hate your enemies will side with you immediately and with strong loyalty, those that don’t become haters (which proves they’re also in the blame game).
Blame is a causal idea that never gets to the cause. This is because the ultimate cause lies with ourselves. The cause is life. When we blame others, we’re really blaming ourselves.
But hey, we’re human and that’s what we do, so don’t let this put you off using division to win a war, just do it with the full knowledge of its damage potential.