Many of the words and phrases used in the media and among academics suggest that things simply: happen: to people, rather than be being caused by their own choices and behavior. Thus there is said to be an 'epidemic' of teenage pregnancy, or of drug usage, as if these things were like the flu that people catch just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy (ed. Basic Books, 1995) - ISBN: 9780465089956