The Accountability Chain & The Claim Chain
Blame, Credit, and Ambulances
Roads flood, cars stall, and we blame the driver. That’s The Accountability Chain—systemic flaws become personal failures, neatly shifting responsibility off the larger machine.
Meanwhile, Blinkit launches on-demand ambulances—five vehicles, each equipped with a paramedic and life-saving gear, arriving in 10 minutes. A fresh idea, a real benefit.
Then comes the official reminder: “Follow the law of the land.” Not just a regulation, but a quiet claim on any success. That’s The Claim Chain—when something works, the system steps in to ensure that credit (and revenue) funnel back its way.
We’ve seen this play out elsewhere:
- Buy a Toyota Innova, and the taxes you pay can actually outstrip what the manufacturer pockets.
- Fancy caramel popcorn? That’s taxed differently from the salted kind, because it’s not “namkeen.”
Yet, even as we fund endless categories and endure bizarre tax distinctions, the system wobbles. Patchy roads, precarious basements, and the daily churn of infrastructure failures remain. And each time it fails, we circle back to pointing fingers at individuals rather than the entities responsible for oversight, maintenance, and policy.
When the good stuff happens—quicker ambulances, instant deliveries, new industries—the system won’t hesitate to claim credit. But for every pothole or jam, the blame sits on the shoulders of the everyday person.
Two chains, locked in place:
- One holds us accountable.
- The other ensures that when there’s glory (or profit), the system claims it first.
Breaking free means calling out these chains for what they are—deeply embedded habits that protect the powerful and burden the rest. Until we name them and demand better, the blame and the credit will keep flowing in all the wrong directions.