Quote:
Originally Posted by PearlJamNoCode
I would argue that there is no rise in "victimhood" in our society, but rather more avenues to share and listeners to people's experiences. More women than men are attending and graduating college and getting advanced degrees. More people of color are rising in society and having their voices heard. "Victimhood" is not on the rise, listening to stories of victimization is.
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Agree on much of this. Though to my view there is a rise in victimhood–from every corner of society.
On one hand, people are simply brought up differently now, with less of s sense of independence and self reliance that I was, and generations before my probably think of my generationX as relatively coddled. There are generations which have grown up with every convenience, who have never seen been or seen their friends forced to go to war, who have less economic opportunity than previous generations, whose parents have solved many of their problems for them at every step. Life has been a lot easier for them.
On the other hand, many people born before or in my time often feel the world is changing too fast, and they're under attack from those who seek an equal stake in the benefits of our society. They feel attacked or victimized by cultural and demographic change. I sense that lately, the latter is pervasive, and there's a whole media industry there to stoke and amplify these feelings of victimhood. See the continued I "can't" say this or that thing complaints one hears continuously. Well sure you can. You're just going to hear about it. And rightly so.
I think there's no question there has been a marked rise in the awareness (in some parts of society) of a need for equality in our culture. This is good. It's forced me to examine my behavior. Many things I said or did before, I choose not to do any more because it's become apparent how they affect other people.