#victimization

Return of the Mythcarriage: how she 'learned to cope' after losing a child

“It doesn’t help that we go out of our way to teach students—literally, it’s the course content your child is studying right now in college—that contemporary America is a wonderland of bigotries aimed at frustrating their aspirations and crushing their dreams. This makes life no better for many because it discourages the self-examination of one’s effort and abilities that is the precursor to self-improvement and success. Learning to wallow in one’s victimization is the ultimate privileging of feelings over facts, and it destroys young lives before they even start out by turning many potential friends and mentors into an unnecessary enemies, which will ensure the frustration and failure so many are experiencing (and carefully documenting on their social media accounts) in America today.”

Sometimes, I think about the fact that one of the most poisonous ideas we internalize as people is the idea that, if we have been victimized, we can never victimize others.