Personal responsibility

[cjsmith]

Well spoken.

"Have to" is almost always shorthand for "have to or else [consequence]". I think we as a culture are getting seduced by the shorthand, and we're beginning to think that we don't have a lot of the choices we really do have.

"Was forced to" is a particularly advanced form of this shorthand. The consequence is not only unstated but usually not possible to figure out from the content of the message. The subtext is that the actual consequence itself doesn't matter. Any bad consequence at all is enough to forgive the action.

Comments

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

Me too, though I'm having a hard time forgiving her for appending Tehanu to the end of the Earthsea series. (I'd have been fine with it as a standalone novel.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and Earthsea stood just fine without it. Ah well.