Taking Responsibility Feels Good: A Graduation Speech

Today’s culture says “it’s not your fault” when bad things happen. This is repeated so often that you can come to think no one is responsible for anything that happens to them. You’re even called a jerk or a “hater” if you hold people responsible for their life outcomes. It’s easier to just join the not-your-fault chorus. Science has embraced the not-your-fault mindset. Academic “studies” usually support the view that people are not responsible for their situations in life. Two “science” books denying the existence of free will have become bestsellers recently. (I don’t want to mention the titles.) So you may be attacked as “anti-science” if you question the not-your-fault mindset....