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elementof_risk"I was just following orders."
It's probably one of the lamest excuses anyone can ever give, though it is the cry of underlings across the world and through time, is it not? From middlemen at corrupt corporations to Nazi guards at concentration camps; whether the crime was bilking people out of their life savings or genocide...it makes a convenient excuse, does it not? It denies responsibility nearly completely, shrugs off all autonomy, places the blame elsewhere. It's nearly the same as claiming victim status yourself.
"If I hadn't done it, someone else would have, and it might well have been worse."
Possibly this one was worse, though I can't be certain. I took responsibility, but tried to justify my actions. That it was the truth means little. That someone else would have done permanent damage where I tried very hard not to doesn't mean I did nothing wrong. It ties in to the first. I was following orders and I hadn't the spine to stand up to my employer and say no. I'm not the hero. That it would have been fruitless for me to do so, done nothing but gotten me either killed or fired, if Sloane was feeling generous, and done nothing to help her is meaningless.
The truth is, I didn't even try to argue with him. Whatever doubts I had, whatever wavering in convictions...it wasn't from any moral resurgence, and they weren't enough to overcome my own instinct for self-preservation or to stay my hand. There is no excuse for that. To even try to attempt one is, in itself, lamer than any excuse I could come up with would be.
It's probably one of the lamest excuses anyone can ever give, though it is the cry of underlings across the world and through time, is it not? From middlemen at corrupt corporations to Nazi guards at concentration camps; whether the crime was bilking people out of their life savings or genocide...it makes a convenient excuse, does it not? It denies responsibility nearly completely, shrugs off all autonomy, places the blame elsewhere. It's nearly the same as claiming victim status yourself.
"If I hadn't done it, someone else would have, and it might well have been worse."
Possibly this one was worse, though I can't be certain. I took responsibility, but tried to justify my actions. That it was the truth means little. That someone else would have done permanent damage where I tried very hard not to doesn't mean I did nothing wrong. It ties in to the first. I was following orders and I hadn't the spine to stand up to my employer and say no. I'm not the hero. That it would have been fruitless for me to do so, done nothing but gotten me either killed or fired, if Sloane was feeling generous, and done nothing to help her is meaningless.
The truth is, I didn't even try to argue with him. Whatever doubts I had, whatever wavering in convictions...it wasn't from any moral resurgence, and they weren't enough to overcome my own instinct for self-preservation or to stay my hand. There is no excuse for that. To even try to attempt one is, in itself, lamer than any excuse I could come up with would be.
