On Victimhood

Victimhood came up yesterday....mostly because of a reaction by my brother over the various ways that victims are counted today.

I sat and pondered upon victimhood.  When I was a kid (1976), I viewed victimhood as version 1.0.  This meant I knew of four versions.  The first was anybody who'd been in a car accident and toted-off to the hospital (if you limped away, it wasn't real victimhood).  The second was any family who'd allow their nephew or cousin to do electrical wiring, and their house had burned down.  The third was any gal who'd married off to Army guy in the 1969-to-1972 period, and he didn't make it back from Nam.  The final category was any guy who'd fallen off the loft of a barn and broke up some ribs or bones from the impact, or been chased down by a bull and been stomped upon.

I came to version 2.0 of victimhood after a decade in the Air Force.  Here, I found more versions.  The first was any guy or gal who'd spouse had gone off 'whoring', and gotten divorced.  The second was any individual who'd bought a Chrysler K-Car (which was worthless from the minute you drove it off the lot).  The third was folks who'd gotten in serious alcohol consumption, and couldn't make it more than eight hours without a drink.  The fourth included folks who'd been encouraged to get an operation, and found that it made their health situation worse than when they started out.

Along about 2005, I came to version 3.0 of victimhood.  This included four groups.  The first was guys who'd gotten tick-bit, and spent months in some recovery phase.  The second was women I worked with who'd gone and lost 75 pounds to please their husband....then found that the husband left them for a hefty new girlfriend.  The third included guys who'd spent $75k for a degree that was utterly worthless. The fourth included folks who'd financially gotten themselves into some $200,000 debt situation.

Around 2012, I came to version 4.0 of victimhood.  The new victims were any black (successful or otherwise), any Latino (successful or otherwise), any trans-person (successful or otherwise), any fat person (successful or otherwise), anyone who suffered from the 2016 election, any college kid having a panic attack or anxiety event, etc.

Potentially, after 2012...one out of every six people that I bumped into while walking around America, was a victim.  Some people didn't even know they were victims, and even if you told them they were victims....they just didn't portray the correct behavior.

The best way of resolving this?  Make everyone a victim....farmers, Mennonites, used-car salesmen, professional wrestlers, shrimp fishermen, mailmen, magicians, meth-addicted folks, millionaires, etc.

Somewhere out there today....is the victim-President-to-be, waiting for his or her chance....to assume the post of President-of-the-victims.