Thanks umair. I actually enjoyed most of your article and agreed with much of your thought process. It actually felt a bit weird doing that.

Victimization is rampant in American society at this point. My sense is that it is driven largely by politicians and media. Not to say there are not real victims in the world because there definitely are. Victims of their DNA, victims of their circumstances, victims of tragedy and many more. Truly victims. Sadly those true victims and their realities are devalued and under appreciated by all those who seek victim-hood rather than stand up and deal with life.

Politicians drive this whole idea of victim-hood for everyone as a means of getting elected and obtaining POWER, the single most meaningful currency in the world. They create victims out of a need to be saviors. If you are not a victim of something how can I save you? If there were no victims we would need no saviors and politicians would be relegated to powerless managerial positions.

For years I have viewed the world and the “market” from the white-knight perspective: “If you are going to be a white-knight, you had better find a dragon to slay.” For politicians, and the many other “marketers” in the world, creating a dragon becomes a necessity when one does not exist. Making you a victim thus produces the dragon; the person or entity that victimized you and then allows you to be saved. Campaign speeches (which are definitely ramping up at the moment) are loaded with this logic path and suck people in to victim-hood so deeply that they vehemently resent any other outcome than their de-victimization; real or perceived. That in turn feeds extreme polarity…which is where we find ourselves today.

Media’s role in all this is amplification, further torquing up anxiety, tension, drama and trauma. The 24/7 news cycle feeds like vampires on the blood of social discourse and victim-hood. They seek the grandest and most dramatic headlines and blast them at us over and over for days. They are not afraid to “round up” and inflate and fan the flames of that discourse to the point where their consumer / viewer, their market, cant’ do anything except stay connected and tuned in and buy their sponsors product. Look at the format for essentially every “news” program. It’s always the same. Lead with the most compelling negative (war, weather, crazies), pound away on it and then, at the end toss in one bit of positive.That “formula” is practiced by most news media, at least here in the US, and I see it as part of the problem, not part of the solution. I think perhaps there should be a TV channel: NBGN…Nothing But Good News!

Thanks again Umair.