Condemnation of Condemners:
As the fourth installment in our series of posts dissecting the techniques of neutralization, we will address “condemnation of condemners”. As defined in The Business Ethics Field Guide, “condemnation of condemners” refers to finding fault in the entities or people who might criticize us.
To understand this concept better, here are some potential real-life examples of condemning the condemner:
Upon receiving a bad grade on an assignment, a student might blame the teacher for giving him/her the bad grade instead of accepting that the assignment was not their best work. The student could, for example, blame the teacher for not giving clear enough instructions, or not being intelligent enough to understand their work.
For another example, imagine getting pulled over while driving and being issued a ticket. Instead of accepting that you were violating a traffic law, you might cast the blame onto the police officer, suggesting in your mind that perhaps he’s dishonest, corrupt, or in a bad mood and looking for someone to take it out on.
This series of blog posts focusing on rationalization techniques will continue over the next several weeks. In the meantime, read more about them in The Business Ethics Field Guide.