Jonathan Admits Responsibility
In the classroom at Coal Street Junior School, all the poster paints have been knocked over and Timmy Grimethorpe has a bruise on his leg.
Miss Pudsey, the teacher, arrives at the scene having moved at some speed from the other side of the room.
"Now, then, I want to know exactly what happened."
All the children gather round excitedly and wave their arms in the air.
"Miss! Miss! It were Jonathan, miss!"
(Look, we all know he probably wasn't called Jonathan, he was probably called some trendy name from a TV series of eight or nine years ago. I am writing this piece in the names of my childhood so as not to open any more cans of worms or distract you from what it's about. Which I haven't got to yet, so I'll continue. Thank you.)
Everyone looks at Jonathan, now extremely busy painting with ferocious concentration and apparently in total ignorance of the fact that everyone else in the room is gathered round the sobbing Timmy Grimethorpe and the spilled paints.
"Jonathan!" shouts Miss Pudsey in her Very Scary Voice, which is reserved for Serious Offences.
"Did you knock the paints over and hit Timmy?"
"No, miss. It wasn't me, Miss. I never even noticed, Miss. I wasn't even there. I've been over here all morning, Miss."
Miss Pudsey takes Jonathan to one side and looks at him in her Sad and Disappointed manner.
"Now then, Jonathan. Everyone in the class says that they saw you do it. Was it you?"
Jonathan bursts into tears. "I just wanted his red, Miss. And he wouldn't give it to me. So I hit him. And then all the paints fell over."
In comes Mrs Thornton, the Head Teacher.
"What's been happening here?" she enquires.
"One of the children hit Timmy and then knocked over all the paints," says Miss Pudsey.
"Who was the culprit?" asks Mrs Thornton.
"Jonathan has admitted responsibility. I've told him he has to stay in at playtime."
Now then, let us consider the key phrase "admitted responsibility."
And now let us move forward twenty years. Jonathan has become a member of a political group - let us call them the Direct Action Through Killing People group - which hopes to further its cause by, say, planting bombs in shopping centres.
He plants the bomb, and it goes off. Luckily nobody is killed (look, there are enough people being killed in the real world without any getting killed in this fictional one).
Jonathan is arrested by the police. The incident is reported in the national press.
" - - and it is understood that the Direct Action Through Killing People group has claimed responsibility for the incident."
Now then. Why, when such incidents are reported, is the phrase claimed responsibility always used?
Let us go back to the classroom.
"Jonathan has claimed responsibility. I've told him to stay in at playtime."
Why didn't Miss Pudsey say that? Because she knew that what Jonanathan did was wrong, and she wouldn't have dreamed of using the word "claimed" in those circumstances.
When someone, say, plants a bomb in a shopping centre, almost all of us know that it's WRONG. So why is it reported with those words "claimed responsibility"? Why not,
"The Direct Action Through Killing People group has admitted responsibility."
Why do we give them the power and the glory of that word "claimed"?
Miss Pudsey, the teacher, arrives at the scene having moved at some speed from the other side of the room.
"Now, then, I want to know exactly what happened."
All the children gather round excitedly and wave their arms in the air.
"Miss! Miss! It were Jonathan, miss!"
(Look, we all know he probably wasn't called Jonathan, he was probably called some trendy name from a TV series of eight or nine years ago. I am writing this piece in the names of my childhood so as not to open any more cans of worms or distract you from what it's about. Which I haven't got to yet, so I'll continue. Thank you.)
Everyone looks at Jonathan, now extremely busy painting with ferocious concentration and apparently in total ignorance of the fact that everyone else in the room is gathered round the sobbing Timmy Grimethorpe and the spilled paints.
"Jonathan!" shouts Miss Pudsey in her Very Scary Voice, which is reserved for Serious Offences.
"Did you knock the paints over and hit Timmy?"
"No, miss. It wasn't me, Miss. I never even noticed, Miss. I wasn't even there. I've been over here all morning, Miss."
Miss Pudsey takes Jonathan to one side and looks at him in her Sad and Disappointed manner.
"Now then, Jonathan. Everyone in the class says that they saw you do it. Was it you?"
Jonathan bursts into tears. "I just wanted his red, Miss. And he wouldn't give it to me. So I hit him. And then all the paints fell over."
In comes Mrs Thornton, the Head Teacher.
"What's been happening here?" she enquires.
"One of the children hit Timmy and then knocked over all the paints," says Miss Pudsey.
"Who was the culprit?" asks Mrs Thornton.
"Jonathan has admitted responsibility. I've told him he has to stay in at playtime."
Now then, let us consider the key phrase "admitted responsibility."
And now let us move forward twenty years. Jonathan has become a member of a political group - let us call them the Direct Action Through Killing People group - which hopes to further its cause by, say, planting bombs in shopping centres.
He plants the bomb, and it goes off. Luckily nobody is killed (look, there are enough people being killed in the real world without any getting killed in this fictional one).
Jonathan is arrested by the police. The incident is reported in the national press.
" - - and it is understood that the Direct Action Through Killing People group has claimed responsibility for the incident."
Now then. Why, when such incidents are reported, is the phrase claimed responsibility always used?
Let us go back to the classroom.
"Jonathan has claimed responsibility. I've told him to stay in at playtime."
Why didn't Miss Pudsey say that? Because she knew that what Jonanathan did was wrong, and she wouldn't have dreamed of using the word "claimed" in those circumstances.
When someone, say, plants a bomb in a shopping centre, almost all of us know that it's WRONG. So why is it reported with those words "claimed responsibility"? Why not,
"The Direct Action Through Killing People group has admitted responsibility."
Why do we give them the power and the glory of that word "claimed"?
posted by Daphne at 7:59 am
9 Comments:
Maybe because at the point in time when the report is being made, no one can say for sure that it's the truth.
Many fringe organisations claim responsibity for atrocities to get their 15 minutes of fame and heighten their status in the terrorist community. In your story, there were many witnesses and Jonathan told the teacher face to face that he did it - so the teacher was rightly able to tell the Headmaster that Jonathan 'admitted' it.
When all you have to go on is a phone call from people who simply give the name of their terrorist organisation, the authorities have to use the word 'claimed' as that is the most accurate description at that time.
So I don't think power and glory comes into it. Just accuracy.
IMHO.
Damn it! I think you're right. But it still grates every time I hear it.
Now is THAT a claim or an admission ??
yeah I was just going to write the same, some groups piggy back terrorist acts to get publicity for themselves. it's a horrible world out there sometimes.
Look at how many groups claimed the London bombings *while the rescue was still ongoing*!
Oh. I was just going to write my piece here - but the answer is 'What silverback said'. Because the group who 'claim' responsibility are very often not the group responsible, it just suits them to associate themselves with the action. Simple as. There's simply no reason to give a particular organisation the glory of being associated with the event until it is proved by objective means that they did really organise it. Unfortuntely every single highly extreme story has a thousand delusional/political/reactionary people more than happy to be associated- it's a rare case of responsible reporting. Hx
In your story I don't think "Jonathan" admitted responsibility for knocking over the paints - as far as he was concerned they fell over.
I do think the claiming responsibility thing is all to do with power and glory - power and glory sought by organisations who may not actually be responsible (well, they are irresponsible actually). And they claim responsibility because they know it will get reported and so give them free publicity. Yes, Silverback, it has to be reported as claiming rather than admitting for the sake of accuracy.
(Funny how nobody ever gets reported as "claiming responsibility" for murders, thefts, vandalism etc.)
It's a media affectation to report everything before facts are known in a desire to have the power and glory of getting the story out there (even if it turns out to be fictional).
I guess even claiming resposibility doesn't mean you did it. In fact not until you are caaught & found guilty can you be held responsible. Sad but true.
Jonathan might not have been guilty either - he may have just been bullied into admitting responsibilty by the teacher because the rest of the class were picking on him.
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