Because CCSN Computer Lab Sucks

And because I didn't bring a disk to save my work on (ya I realize the irony that my speech is on the blame game, yet I am blaming CCSN for my woes) I will be posting my speech and works cited here so I can at least copy and past them when I get home. Lame I know, but ccsn doesn't let me email them. Blars! I'm so sick of school...

Works Cited

Bernstein, A. (2003). How to Deal with Emotionally Explosive People. New York City:
McGraw Hill

Rand, A. 1957. Atlas Shrugged New York, Random House.


Shapiro, Robert. Top Ten Frivolous Lawsuits of All Time. 29 January 2005
http://www.legalzoom.com/topten

Shame on the Blame Game

Umm…I can’t do this. I’m not prepared…but its because you (point at professor) didn’t give me enough time to work on this. And you-you’re sitting there staring at me making me nervous! And you’re wearing a coat and you, you just wanted me to fail didn’t you? I am outta here!
(Run out of room, count to 3, return)
Got you didn’t I? What you just witnessed was a dramatization of what could have happened if I didn’t prepare my speech, but more importantly what would have happened had I failed take responsibility for my lack of preparation. Instead of realizing that only I was to blame for the poor grade I would have surely received, I began blaming everyone from the professor to you, my innocent peers. While most people don’t throw tantrums in their communications classes, there is a trend to play the blame game in our society and refusing to accept responsibility from everything to simple accidents to deteriorating relationships. Tonight I hope you’ll examine yourself while we explore some examples of how damaging the blame game can be on society and ourselves personally. Since this is a rather broad topic, I want to focus on the following: frivolous lawsuits, damaged relationships, and how we can recognize when we are playing the blame game ourselves and denying our personal responsibility.
What is a frivolous lawsuit? According to Wikipedia.com, the term “frivolous lawsuit” refers to lawsuits that are based on a theory that seems absurd or when the claim results in damages that far exceed what may be necessary. A perfect example of this found on legalzoom.com would be in May of 2003 when a gentleman by the name of Stephen Johnson decided to sue Kraft foods for putting trans-fat in their Oreo cookies and causing him to gain weight. This is similar to the various McDonald’s lawsuits regarding weight gain. Is weight gain a problem in America? Sure it is, but a bigger problem is the failure of these people to take the responsibility for weight gain caused by unhealthy eating. Oreos are delicious and awfully tempting, but nobody forced Stephen Johnson to eat the tasty cookies to the point of obesity. Stephen made that choice himself and he should accept responsibility for the results of his actions. Frivolous lawsuits, while amusing in a ludicrous way are a drain on our society’s legal system. The number of these lawsuits could be greatly decreased if only people were willing to say “Yup. I messed up. Its nobody’s fault but mine.”
Relationships can also suffer greatly when the parties involved play the blame game.


That's as far as I've gotten so far, feel free to offer any suggestions or criques.
Hearts to ye all!

Love,
Suzy