The Accountability Gap

Or: the Death of Shame

Apr 16, 2026

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'The Fire of Rome', oil on canvas painting by Hubert Robert (French, 1733 - 1808). In the forefront we see a bridge. In the distance we see the city in flames against the night sky.

“The Fire of Rome,” by Hubert Robert (1733 to 1808) (Image credit: Photo by: Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

I’m old enough to remember when Ronald Reagan managed to reduce political correctness to a pejorative. It was the 80s, when greed was good,, the party of personal responsibility said “Just say no” and gay was a choice; they reframed the right to choose as the right to life, and Crips and Bloods, welfare queens and Willie Horton battled TV’s the Huxtables for the win. The idea of accountability for giving a thought to one’s thoughts before they left your face wasn’t just a joke. It was a bridge too far.

Cut to the 90s and the multi-cultural mindset: in intellectual circles we were beginning to wrestle with the wages of feminism a la Camille Paglia and how one could “discover” an already inhabited West (What do you mean cancel Columbus Day?) Clarence Thomas declared himself the victim of a high tech lynching but it was Anita Hill who was pilloried on national TV. And once again accountability was in the trash heap.

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