18 19 The Imperative of Responsibility (from Cain to Batman) Raffaele Alberto Ventura «It is not my fault». «I was confused». «They coerced me». «They misconstrued me». «I am a victim of circumstance». How often have we sought refuge in an excuse to evade the burden of responsibility for having erred or disappointed another? Responsibility means: being aware of one’s own actions and their repercussions, while also assuming the duty to be held accountable, without resorting to exculpatory subterfuge or displacing blame onto others. Especially not onto interns, as is the wont of inept leaders. Cain was the inaugural practitioner of such cunning, as recounted in the Old Testament. When interrogated by God following the murder of Abel, he initially attempts to divert the topic: «Am I my brother’s keeper?». In a majestic poem by Victor Hugo, Cain flees into the desert, in an endeavour to elude his guilt-laden conscience. He erects walls to try to ensconce himself in the remotest locales. Ultimately, he seeks refuge into the depths of a cavern, convinced that he has at last secured safety; yet even there, in the utterest darkness, the gaze of the Divine remains unrelenting. The crisis of responsibility The poet’s message is clear: responsibility is inescapable. Cain was acutely aware that by hurling that stone at his brother’s head, he would bring about his death. But is it still so today? After all, it is exceedingly difficult to feel fully responsible in a world governed by deterministic forces, where everything is anchored in physical, social, and psychological causality. The youths of West Side Story understood this well: confronted by a policeman intent on arresting them, they proclaim in song, «It's just our bringin' upke / That gets us out of hand. / Our mothers all are junkies, / Our fathers all are drunks. / Golly Moses, natcherly we're punks!». Were Cain to stand trial in a contemporary court of law, he too might benefit from certain mitigating circumstances: emotional turmoil, diminished mental capacity, external coercion, or cultural conditioning… One can envision the defence’s argument: «As the firstborn in the history of humankind, the defendant endured a turbulent family environment, characterised by heightened sibling rivalry and a distant paternal figure, Adam – factors that may offer a psychological rationale for his actions». To determinism must then be added complexity. Every occurrence has its causes and consequences, yet we – unlike Cain with his stone – are not necessarily fully aware of them. At times, between cause and effect, intricate and imperceptible mechanisms intervene, amplified by modern technologies. Who bears responsibility for the tragic suicide of Tiziana Cantone, whose revenge porn video was viewed by millions? Who is culpable for the suicide of Giovanna Pedretti, the restaurateur vilified – as if guilty of an unforgivable crime – for falsifying a review on Tripadvisor? Everyone and no one, much like in the Netflix series TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY, which scrutinises the diffuse layers of responsibility that may drive someone to take their own life: sociologists speak of compounded or perverse effect resulting from a multitude of individual actions. Modernity is, in fact, a solvent of responsibility. Who is to blame for the economic downturn? Who bears responsibility for pollution and criminality? And above all, who is responsible if the planet dies, consumed by our relentless consumption? According to political representatives, never themselves. The blame always lies elsewhere: with prior administrations, the opposition, economic cycles, conspiracies… No one is willing to shoulder the burden of responsibility. To be sure, modern democracy is predicated on the principle that those who wield power should be answerable to the citizenry – what the Anglo-Saxons term accountability. Yet, in practice, the ability to evaluate governance vanishes amidst the opaque entanglement of individuals, institutions, committees, agencies, and subcontractors in which modern power is exercised. In such a scenario, it becomes difficult to hope that any effective action might be taken to rescue the planet from environmental catastrophe. The philosopher Hans Jonas had already observed, in 1979, that the key to addressing the ecological crisis lay in the Imperative of Responsibility: once again, it is a matter of recognising that causality is diffused, and that even the most minute individual actions do form a compounded impact.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDUzNDc=