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> To be a victim is to be helpless This seems overly strong? To me "victimhood" just implies that you are the recipient of the negative consequences of someone
by tech_ken 3y ago
> To be a victim is to be helpless
This seems overly strong? To me "victimhood" just implies that you are the recipient of the negative consequences of someone else's actions, it has nothing to do with your response to those actions. You can be a helpless victim and you can be a resistant victim. You can recognize that something is not your fault, and still act to fix it. But simply eating the blame for everything that happens to you will just make you miserable. Healthy self-regard comes from understanding both what is and is not your fault, and what is and is not within your control.
- kelseyfrog 3y agoDeciding who can and can't be a victim is more about other people than it is for the person harmed. Specifically it's a reality building mechanism where systems that enable harm to occur are shielded from critique in the sense that it renders action against them impotent. Generally, the mechanism is one of individuation of harms. This is most understandable in that victimhood itself is a collective state of being for victims ie: a shared common experience. Share common experiences naturally lead towards systemic-thinking - something we wish to avoid. What anti-victimhood advocates are doing, whether they know or not, is participating in the creating of a reality where systems which create victims[1] are shielded from systems-level thinking. ie: every case which results in a victim is between individuals. As a side note: it's incredible weird to participate in a community that advocates for and understands the importance of systems-level thinking but then only applies this to machines rather than social systems. 1. remember that a systems purposes is its consequences
- tech_ken 3y agoOkay I mean yeah but I’m trying to meet this comment thread where it’s at hahaha