This is page 21 from Book of Pages. Jiriki, having been arrested for attempting to use a public machine whilst not being a member of the public, is sharing a cell with the Magician when the Angel of Blame makes an appearance.
The Metropolis runs on electricity and blame. Electricity stirs the machines; it animates the technology. Blame is the power that drives the systems; it animates the people. Just as the machines have their wires and cables and ducts, so the organisations have their channels of blame. Teams, departments, companies: all are built around their complex hierarchies of blame.
Not so long ago, it used to be the case that when I appeared before someone, they were afraid. A visit from the Angel of Blame used to be the most fearful thing that they could imagine. I was, more often than not, a portent of financial ruin — and in a world where they no longer needed to fear disease, hunger or injury, financial ruin was about as scary as things could get. I would hover above the wreckage of tragedy and wield my finger not just to rebuke, but to redistribute the wealth. For a while I was the champion of the aggrieved, and people respected me and my mission.
But since then, things have changed. Now, people have been wholly subsumed by their hierarchies of blame — the systems themselves have taken over. It’s hard for me to find anyone who is really responsible for their own actions. There is always some larger factor, a mitigating circumstance or past influence which means the system absorbs the blame instead of the individual. I can’t, with any confidence, point at anyone any more and say “your fault”. Of course, if people can no longer be blamed, I could always pick on the systems that have freed them of their responsibility. I could end up just waving vaguely at this modern society. Something has gone wrong: what happened to stern, old-fashioned pointing? What happened to blame? What happened to responsibility?
