No Choice, No Say

One of the great loves of Dumb Down Safety is guilt, binary attribution and projection of deficit views of risk and safety. Unless the curriculum of WHS moves ahead in transdisciplinary way (https://safetyrisk.net/isnt-it-time-we-reformed-the-whs-curriculum/ ), it is not likely that much will change.

There is no better example of the binary Safety worldview than the safety poem by Don Merrell ‘I chose to look the other way ’.

The key to the poem is the assumption that ‘safety is a choice you make’. Therefore, un-safety doesn’t happen by chance, luck, circumstance, social complexity, psychological factors, randomness, emergence, providence or a combination of all. Un-safety happens because you choose to be unsafe. Such an assumption allows Safety to project superiority and sets up a trajectory of blaming,

I offer a different poem in the same style to put a counter point.

No Choice, No Say

I didn’t save a life today,

There was no choice, I had no say.

It wasn’t that I didn’t care;

But things emerged, in wear and tear.

I can’t read minds, nor see ahead,

And don’t let hindsight go to my head.

I have no right to project your choice;

It’s an easy judgment, to take your voice.

The risk of life is learning’s way,

And risk aversion’s human decay.

The uncertainty of risk is no binary deal;

Let’s not speak nonsense but make it real.

I don’t need guilt to make a point,

I don’t need fear to disappoint.

I don’t need blame thrust down my throat;

Because binary dread sails your boat.

Who thinks I let people die?

It’s crazy to suggest I closed my eye!

Don’t project a silly choice on me;

Your ‘tick and flick’ is no guarantee.

It’s simplistic Safety that close thinking mind,

And dumb down attribution, makes people blind.

Nothing is helped with dead black and white;

So save your piety for the zero acolyte.

To be human in risk with respect and with trust,

Is listening and talking in risk as a must.

To tackle risk the person way;

Is living grace as your bouquet .

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Dr Rob Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions

Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)

Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual) - January 23, 2023
Getting the Balance Right in Tackling Risk - January 23, 2023
What is SPoR? - January 23, 2023
How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety - January 23, 2023
Afraid to Let Go of What Doesn’t Work in Safety - January 17, 2023

PhD., MEd., MOH., BEd., BTh., Dip T., Dip Min., Cert IV TAA, MRMIA Rob is the founder of Human Dymensions and has extensive experience, qualifications and expertise across a range of sectors including government, education, corporate, industry and community sectors over 30 years. Rob has worked at all levels of the education and training sector including serving on various post graduate executive, post graduate supervision, post graduate course design and implementation programs.