Has Victimhood Gone Too Far
...al story. This is not to say that people don’t get victimized. Skepticism occurs when too many people in our society claim victimhood. Why do so many people feel compelled to deem themselves victims? One answer could be so that they could gain sympathy, or perhaps to get out of taking responsibility for their actions. Instead of being responsible and dealing with the consequences of their actions, people will just sometimes use the “I did this because of that” excuse. And an excuse is what it is! It’s saying that the person would rather claim to be a victim than to be responsible. For example, a person might say that their hamster got thrown in the dryer and that event caused them emotional trauma. Therefore that person is a “victim” and justified for going to a pet store and eating another hamster! Pretty much all of the Jerry Springer talk show is what America is coming to eventually if the victim trends continue. What we need to do is go back to where everyone took responsibility for their actions and accepted the consequences, rather than blame someone else, or use the excuse that “I’m a victim.” Taking responsibility for our actions also refers to morality and having a good sense of what’s right and what is wrong. We just have to own up to our mistakes by accepting responsibility for our actions. People in general sometimes use victimization as a means of getting something they want. Like a person wanting a job could invent a scenario where they present themselves to be victims, to gain compassion, and therefore, they might get a better edge on getting that job. What we need to do is get back to the time-honored system of telling the truth, and doing what’s right, so that the real compassion can go to those who really need and deserve it, because those are the true victims. The problem of false victims is taking away from acknowledging those victims that need to come forward. One of the major drawbacks is that other victims might not come forward and get help because of all the hype of all the non-victim victims. And this is not good. It’s damaging to those people who need to talk about their victimization, and in the long one, false claims of victimization are harmful for everyone. Charles J. Sykes states in his essay entitled Claims of Victimhood Cause Compassion Fatigue that, “The challenge of the politics of victimization is to those who do care about genuine victims and who recognize that victimism reaps its advantage at the direct expense of those most deserving of compassion and support. If everyone is a victim, then no one is." Sykes also mentions “The need to start making careful distinctions between the legitimate objects of compassion and the products of the victimist culture is urgent.” And the last quote that I believe fits in is when Sykes said that “The gridlock of national politics, the refusal of interest groups to surrender their demands to the larger public good, the growing provincialism and paroch...