255 Victimhood

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It's human nature to form resentments, and history proves that grudges & slights are inter-generational, enduring for many, even hundreds of years. Whenever society has a shift in power & control, old complaints and past feuds will surface as segments of the population gain influence. In modern times, this was precipitated by the one-man-one-vote aspect of democracy. However, those special interest groups are still in a minority so they band together in the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend, defining the majority as the common oppressor enemy, and themselves as the oppressed victims.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Why? Because victimhood has special privileges: first-n-foremost, it reverses responsibly of one's negative actions onto someone or something else while retaining ownership of positive actions, a win-win situation for victims. Secondly, perversity & vindictiveness provides their own emotional rewards regardless of logic. And giving the whole victimhood strategy additional momentum, many non-victims revel in their own sanctimonious & self-righteous thoughts; there's even a masochistic aspect of victim enablers, a kind of perverse mental masturbation. Perhaps it has always been that way, victimhood certainly strengthens the social fabric of some minority communities & fraternities, but it's more likely that social media has taken what was once a pitiful & rare occurrence, and made it mainstream.</p>