Blaming the system doesn't make you deep - by Daniel Muñoz

Since the dawn of time, mankind has been inclined to hate the player. But what if I told you it’s not always the player’s fault, and sometimes you should instead hate the game? This is the basic idea behind systemic critique, as contrasted with the moral critique of individuals. The target of a moral critique is a “bad apple” who has made naughty choices—the goal is to reform that individual, or if that’s not possible, to keep them out of power. The target of a systemic critique is a broken or unjust institution—the goal is to change the rules of the game, not necessarily the hearts of the players. Moral critiques come very naturally to us human beings, because we like to see people’s behavior as an expression of their personal values: if someone’s acting like a jerk, we assume they must be a jerk. For example, if you look at the American Congress, you see a lot of nutty behavior. It’s almost irresistible to think, these people are nuts! Or you might read about a case of police brutali

Since the dawn of time, mankind has been inclined to hate the player. But what if I told you it’s not always the player’s fault, and sometimes you should instead hate the game? This is the basic idea behind systemic critique, as contrasted with the moral critique of individuals. The target of a moral critique is a “bad apple” who has made naughty choices—the goal is to reform that individual, or if that’s not possible, to keep them out of power. The target of a systemic critique is a broken or unjust institution—the goal is to change the rules of the game, not necessarily the hearts of the pla