“It's responsible for the sloppiness and imprecision of the War on Terror, for example. It's responsible for taking people's tax dollars and spending the country into debt on useless wars and pointless pork projects to buy votes. It's responsible for bailing out the banks instead of standing up for the people the banks cheated. It's responsible for plenty.” PeopleWarCountryExampleTaxesProjectsStandingVoteResponsibleDollarsTerrorDebtSpendingPlentyUselessPointlessCheatedWar On TerrorPorkTax DollarsBailing OutSloppiness Author:Timothy Hallinan
“I am amazed that Congressmen can pass a bill imposing severe penalties on anyone who burns the American flag, whereas they are responsible for burning that for which the flag stands: the United States as a territory, as a people, and as a biological manifestation. That is an example of our perennial confusion of symbols with realities.” PeopleStatesRealityUnitedUnited StatesExampleResponsibleBillsConfusionSymbolsBurningManifestationTerritoryFlagsPenaltiesAmazedSevereImposingCongressmanAmerican Flag Author:Alan Watts
“Very often, the way love is defined, it does violence to both people. It almost makes them a slave to the other. For example, if to be in love, or to be married, it means that I'm responsible for the other person's happiness, now we get into this guilt game, where if they're upset, I'm at fault. Soon, that makes the person we are closest to about as much fun to be around as a prolonged dental appointment.” PeopleIfsWayMeanPersonsDoeGamesFunLove IsViolenceExampleCommunicationMarriedResponsibleGuiltFaultsSlaveDefinedUpsetClosestBeing MarriedNonviolent CommunicationAppointmentsDentalHappiness Now Author:Marshall B. Rosenberg
“We wield an enormous influence over the world through how we choose to vote and what we choose to buy. Again, it's the power of numbers. If voters hold their leaders responsible for doing something about global warming, it will get done. If most people refuse to buy products from companies that, for example, wrap products in more plastic than necessary, pretty soon the plastic wrapping will stop.” PeopleIfsWorldDoneNumbersCompanyLeaderInfluenceExampleProductsVoteResponsibleRefuseEnormousGlobal WarmingVotersPlasticWrapsWrapping Book:Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming Source: Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming
“It would be much better if I could only stop thinking. Thoughts are the dullest things. Duller than flesh. They stretch out and there's no end to them and they leave a funny taste in the mouth. Then there are words, inside the thoughts, unfinished words, a sketchy sentence which constantly returns...It goes, it goes ... and there's no end to it. It's worse than the rest because I feel responsible and have complicity in it. For example, this sort of painful rumination: I exist, I am the one who keeps it up. I.” IfsThinkingFeelsEndsWould BeExampleReturnTasteMouthsResponsiblePainfulSentencesFleshIf I CouldUnfinishedComplicityRuminationSketchy Author:Jean-Paul Sartre
“A lot of seriously insane people have managed to acquire huge followings based on the idea that their insanity is a kind of enlightenment. An obvious example would be Charles Manson or Shoko Asahara who is the person responsible for the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.” PeopleKindPersonsIdeasWould BeExampleHugeEnlightenmentResponsibleObviousFollowingInsaneInsanityAcquireGasSubwayTokyoManson Author:Brad Warner