The blame game

Good news! (No, really).

The proposed Trump Tower that was slated for Queensland’s Gold Coast is no more. The project, which sought to achieve the impossible and make the Gold Coast worse, fell apart within just three months.  

As is often the case with both Trump and the real estate industry, the blame game has begun in earnest. Australian developer David Young said “the Iran war and everything else” made the Trump brand too toxic. In response, the Trump Organisation said Young’s “own defaults and failures” were culpable. Let’s be fair and say it was probably both.  

Blame can play a useful role in distracting the public and shifting accountability. The Middle East conflict is the latest in a long line of very convenient excuses for things not going as planned. 

Of course, dig a little deeper, and the assignment of blame is often a little more complicated. 

Controversy recently arose around a short story that won a prestigious prize from Granta magazine. After it was published, many pointed out the AIness of it all, including a litany of ‘not x, but y’ sentences. While scrutiny turned to the author, perhaps the judges also warrant investigation. 

Similarly, the backlash to CGT changes among startup founders in Australia has led to some incredibly dull LinkedIn posts about a new “47 per cent silent partner”. Putting aside that this completely misunderstands how tax works, it does a good job of shifting focus away from the fact the sector - which often claims to be the country’s rising economic powerhouse - perhaps lacks the heft or deftness to deal with such policy issues before they’re announced.

Dealing with the reality of poor judging, or not being consulted over tax changes, or failing to even submit a development application for a 91-story tower is hard. It’s much easier, and increasingly common, to simply blame someone else.