The real sea-change is a steep decline of self-restraint as a core value within power structures. The powerful, particularly on the right, have learned that sel

The real sea-change is a steep decline of self-restraint as a core value within power structures. The powerful, particularly on the right, have learned that self-restraint, shame, remorse, empathy are unnecessary and even damaging. They have learned to do something that came naturally to their aristocratic forebears: to actively eliminate such feelings as a weak distraction from the correct use of power. Stephen Colbert made a career lampooning this change. "If you are in power, and someone speaks up: Don't admit mistakes. Don't apologize. Don't defend yourself. This opens you up to unnecessary liability. People are self-interested sharks, and more often than not if you take any of these actions, this will just be like blood in the water. They will balloon their concern out of proportion and take a huge, unjust advantage of you. So just ignore it." - What GWB might have said with a straight face. When those in power start adopting this attitude, the powerless lose what little power they had to "shame" a leader into simply doing the right thing. The powerless lose all respect for the powerful, and it is only through the unflappable loyalty of security forces that the powerful remain in power doing those times. At least in a democracy we have a chance of occasionally flushing out arrogant, disconnected power-mongers without violence - but in many cases there is no such mechanism. Anyway, no it's not about victimhood, it's a (possibly preemptive) reaction to the loss of self-restraint among the institutionally powerful.