1/ There& #39;s a thing I& #39;m calling moral spotlighting (maybe someone else has a name for it) that I think is harmful. One example came after 9/11. To many people, it was outrageous to focus on anything but the hijackers and plotters themselves -- they wanted a spotlight shined there

2/ and everything else to be shrouded in darkness. To which many of us responded, Well, sure -- they were the people who actually did the thing. But if you don& #39;t understand the context that caused them to want to do the thing, then we won& #39;t be able to prevent it from happening

3/ again. Similar thing with gang shootings: Some people think it& #39;s bleeding-hard pablum to talk about the environment and lack of other opportunity etc.; others argue that while shooters have responsibility, it& #39;s impossible to understand why they did what they did, or tamp down

4/ on violence, without understanding the social strutures that give rise to the violence. I think we should resist moral spotlighting because in most cases it prevents us from telling a more coherent, comprehensive story about why a bad outcome occurred.