Legal liability is something most people are afraid of. A slip and fall can bankrupt a business. Or think of the tobacco settlement.

When it comes to holding ourselves liable for our own actions, however, we are far less concerned. After all, we’re human.

Liability is a particular kind of responsibility, isn’t it? We associate it with blame. Something we work incredibly hard in avoiding (and placing). But there is something deeply destructive in blame and something deeply constructive in liability.

Blaming the victim of violence is wrong on every level. But also, blaming anyone isn’t the same as holding an aggressor liable for their actions. The aggressor is responsible and must be held responsible. They are liable.

And it is telling that the powerful are far more afraid of liability than blame.