A Culture of Victimization

I was listening to Opie & Anthony yesterday and the shock jock duo had Ann Coulter on. (Those familiar with the show will know that they do discus serious topics on American politics and current events aside from the usual comedy.) Coulter was on discussing her latest book, titled "Guilty: Liberal 'Victims' and Their Assault on America." Ann Coulter is a controversial figure in US politics. She has been labelled a brainless bimbo and a crackpot. She takes a hard right approach to politics and I do not agree with everything she says, given that I'm more centre right. Still, she is one of the few people in America who is not afraid to stand up and speak her mind, and she can more than hold her own in any debate. You have to respect her for her resolution, or else get chewed out in the process. Our society fears these people because they stir the proverbial pot. The left especially dislikes any sort of opposing views and will often refuse to debate or question their own. The left considers themselves to be enlightened. Their point of view is the only correct point of view and anyone who disagrees should be ignored and silenced. Are there people on the right who are like this? Of course, however, they don't fill the ranks of political power and are often labelled as "right wing nutjobs". The right also lacks the massive propaganda machine the left has amassed through the mainstream media. Canada has largely the same issues regarding lack of debate and elitism on the left, as noted especially with their contempt for the democratic process with the widely unpopular coalition.

Coulter's new book, which I have not read yet, looks at the culture of victimization within the United States. That is, how people make themselves look like a victim to gain power. People believe that if they are being wronged, or have been wronged in the past, that entitles them to special treatment. To automatically pass Go, collect $2 million. In the United States, the most frequent example of this that crops up is African Americans and slavery. Due to rampant racism against them, they should receive special treatment and should be free from criticism. Take a look at how the liberal media has handled Barack Obama. During his entire campaign, he received almost no criticism while McCain, Palin, and Clinton were hammered by the media. Obama on the other hand has been treated with kid gloves as was pointed out by Coulter. What she is essentially saying is because of his race, Obama has been made impervious to criticism. Despite him being mulatto (his mother is white) who's father was from Kenya, he is still identified with the slave ancestors of the majority of African Americans living in the US. Those familiar with history will know that slavery was primarily west African so a Kenyan ancestor will not have shared the same experiences. However, Obama is still portrayed as being a victim of racism in America.

The way liberals treat minorities is the same way one would treat a retarded child who you are playing a game with. You let them win because they are "suffering" and you feel sorry for them. White people are mostly guilty of this since they feel bad that their ancestors participated in slavery. It has been jokingly called "the white man's guilt", a play on the "white man's burden". White people feel guilty for what other white people did so they feel the need to give special treatment to minorities simply because of that. Of course, minority groups have learned how to exploit this, and you cannot really blame them for doing so. They portray themselves as victims some sort of crime that has befallen on their chosen identity group in order to extort power or money out of guilty liberals. In turn, those liberals feel good about themselves for helping the "disadvantaged". The left wingers may have good intentions but ultimately, this thought process is counter productive. Originally, we sought to build a society that was blind to sex, race, religion, etc. In the process of doing so, we've managed to create the exact opposite. Now anyone can claim themselves to be a victim of some past or present injustice, real or perceived, and they use it to get their way. This has worked to create a society that is becoming increasingly divisive, and the left wing is openly encouraging it. Those who wish to constructively criticize the methods of the so called "victims" are called racist, sexist, etc., which ultimately stiffles debate.
This is not to say that true victims of racism do not exist in the United States. However, there is no more of it there than any other given country. Those who try to tell you that America is the most racist country on Earth obviously didn't pay attention in their history classes. The liberals are fostering a society that believes this to be true. None of this rhetoric is of any benefit to our society. Obama and any other minority in power should be held to the same critical standards as their predecessors have been. Americans owe it to themselves to do so. If all men are created equally, they should all be held to the same standards regardless or race, colour, or creed. It is not racist to criticise the president elect, however, it is racist not to.

Ah, but what about Canada? The culture of victimization is probably stronger here than it is anywhere else in the world. Oddly enough, it is Steven Harper fueling it rather than the left wing, thanks mostly to his reparation payments and appologies to "victims" of head taxes, residential schools, etc. Perhaps the biggest exploiters of victimization are Canada's Aboriginal population. The way the government handles them as victims has allowed them to live in a time warp, separated from the rest of the world. Millions of dollars have been spent on native reparations, which has ultimately done nothing to improve their lot. Yet, they still weild a tremendous amount of influence over the government. The whole victimization notion protects them from criticism, even when "protestes" become violent when they don't get their way. Indeed, the American case study with Obama should force us to look at how we handle similar situations in our own country. Simply put, treating people as victims is wrong and does not empower people. It is holding our society back from acheiving the goal we had originally sought out.