What is it with our obsession with villains?
Within a month, two tragedies have gripped the entire nation: the untimely passing of Ateneo’s Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili during a teambuilding activity in Dipaculao, Aurora; and the horrifying Tacloban school shooting that left three dead.
All students with limitless possibilities, gone long before their time.
Not one took the tragedies lightly—from social media onlookers to the national government. Overnight and just as soon as they had happened, calls for answers and transparency came from all directions. Meanwhile, the Senate probes and committees sought to uncover the root cause of the deaths.
Barring questions of politicking and sensationalizing, these investigations will undoubtedly have a positive effect on our laws to prevent such incidents from ever happening to our students.
Who’s really the bad guy here?
That said, from how the investigations have panned out, both the national government and the public court of opinion seem to be keen on having someone to blame. For Baterbonia and Adili, the public turned on Tab Baldwin, the Ateneo coaching staff, the players, and even the medical staff on the ground.
And for the Tacloban school shooting, blame shifted to video games, bullying, and parental oversight.
In cases of death, it is undoubtedly necessary to pinpoint who and what is responsible. But in Baterbonia and Adili’s case, what if it were truly an accident no one could exactly anticipate? And for the Tacloban shooting, what if the perpetrators were simply disturbed youths with an inclination to violence?
It’s easy to look back and see what could have been done to avoid the tragedy. Such is the benefit of hindsight. But why are we so obsessed with having villains to blame?
The psychology behind it
Psychologically, the desire for villains and someone to blame can be traced back to the human desire for control and predictability. Admitting that something was unavoidable would simply mean that such tragedies can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime.
According to Joanna E. Anderson of the University of Waterloo in an article published by the Association for Psychological Science, “It’s scary for something negative to happen to a good person—that means it could happen to you.”
To claim that what happened to Baterbonia, Adili, and those of San Jose National High School was unavoidable plays into this fear—but it also presents the possibility that the world isn’t as fair as we seem.
“Believing that the world is fair can offer a sense of comfort. This belief gives us a feeling of order, predictability, and control over our lives,” writes Sheradyn Matthews for the Centre for Clinical Psychology.
“After trauma, many people find themselves thinking, ‘If I were stronger, this wouldn’t have happened,’ or ‘I must have done something wrong to deserve this,’ she adds.
For Matthews, these thoughts enforce the idea that tragedies occur for a reason—giving not only rationality but significance to their victims.
Seemingly swift justice
But this behavior may also be inadvertently encouraged by our political landscape.
Where justice at the national level is rarely handed out—from the flood control investigations that have yet to bear actual fruit to the very instability we’ve seen in our Senate—justice is in short supply.
Instead, we look to where it can be more easily found. A low-hanging fruit, so to speak.
From the outside looking in, investigations and probes into the Ateneo drowning incident, as well as that of the Tacloban school shooting, have been rather quick. However, even that swift justice may also be engineered, instead of being a true manifestation of our legal systems.
That’s because, accoridng to UNICEF, scapegoating is often done by politicians to “divert attention away from their own failings or from the reality that they don’t have the solutions.”
Since these tragedies, Tab Baldwin and “Gorebox” have taken over the headlines, taking precedence over issues that have previously been in the spotlight.
It’s not to say that these tragedies shouldn’t find justice and resolution. But it is quite interesting how swift our justice systems work for sensationalized tragedies—even if culpability may not even be there.
But what about cases of corruption where those accountable are in plain sight? Crickets.
