Thanks to good hearts and good intentions at all levels, victimhood is more and more rare as time passes in this country... injustice is addressed, from local to national level. Women's rights, the CRA, minimum wage, you name it, the injustice is met and set right. The cries of the victims are heard, their problems put front and center, their pain FELT.
But, because of this goodhearted response to need, victimhood is also more and more sought after... so much so that supply cannot keep up with demand. Men who feel that they are women? VICTIMS! Women who feel they're men? VICTIMS! Black people all over America whose distant ancestors suffered slavery and injustice? GIVE THEM MONEY, they are VICTIMS! (never mind that there were no slavers in my family, and no wealth was handed down to me, I BENEFITED FROM SLAVERY, so I should pay reparations.)
Remember a few years ago on video, the burly dude in a pink sweater, pigtails and lipstick, at the register in a store when the cashier called him "sir"?
He drew himself to his full height, pulled his shoulders back, put a look of fury on his face and almost shouted at the clerk...
“That's MA'AM!"
So determined to avail himself of the opportunity to be a victim, he accidentally adopted the physical intimidation that MEN use to get their way.
Remember Ben Shapiro being threatened with violence by the guy in women's clothes on that tv show? That is not how women act. And I'm not just talking about being ladylike. It is not a woman's instinct to threaten physical violence. That's man territory... no matter what he is wearing.
And last week, the former mayor of Chicago said she lost re-election because she was "a black woman in America". Wait... didn't you GET ELECTED mayor? Why didn't your victim status keep you from being elected in the first place? Never mind... VICTIM!
Everyone wants that pearl of great price... victimhood. Because victimhood confers a kind of nobility, a purity that isn't real or true at all but is very helpful in daily life... and the pay can be VERY good. All victims are noble sufferers. All oppressors are evil. Now, just control who is called victim and who is called oppressor, and you run the world.
I'm not a victim of anyone.
Been insulted, lost fights, been fired in favor of one who had lesser abilities, had a gun pulled on me because he didn't like my tone, been chased by a mob and had to hide under a car to keep from being thrashed... all without provoking or inviting victimhood. It does not rest well on me.
It's shameful, this embrace of victimhood. Life's trials should be met head on and overcome. But these days, victimhood is leverage, a tool to be used, like a crowbar... or a sledge hammer… to pry or slam your way to special privileges that come with this kind of sympathy.
Somebody else can have my share of that.