Why do so few people take the blame for their actions?

National Baptist Convention leader The Rev. Henry Lyons went on trial this week for allegedly misusing church funds to buy big diamonds, fancy cars and vacation homes. Accused in 1997, he claimed to be a victim of the media and racism.

It was an accident, Theodore Bramwell told police earlier this month. He didn't slam his infant daughter's head into a wall, killing her, because she cried; she fell out of her car seat in their Lauderhill, Fla., home.

For every crime, it seems _ as well as personal failings great and small _ Americans find someone or something to blame.

So how surprising was it that two teen-age brothers accused in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently of raping their 8-year-old half sister said they got the idea from the`` Jerry Springer Show?''

Perhaps it's just a matter of time until ``rejection of personal responsibility'' becomes a disease or syndrome of its very own.

How and when did this happen?

Vince Barry, a philosophy …