Goal
Today, I discuss the four horsemen of victimhood culture: the slave, the owner, the hustler, and the benefactor.
Table of Contents
- The Profitability of Victimhood Culture
- The Slave
- The Owner
- The Hustler
- The Benefactor
- You Can Fight Against Victimhood Culture
- Actionables
- Reading List
The Profitability of Victimhood Culture
“I think segregation is bad, I think it’s wrong, it’s immoral. I’d fight against it with every breath in my body, but you don’t need to sit next to a white person to learn how to read and write. The NAACP needs to say that.” – Clarence Thomas
Victimhood culture is when a society places victims’ needs, wants, and opinions above everything else. We talk constantly about victims, defend their actions, and elevate them so they are “seen” and “heard.”
Such a culture is rife with corruption. When a man is not challenged, he falters and slips into vice. He will become entitled when given excuses, instead of solutions, for his plights.
Although victims must be cared for, our goal should always be resolution and support, never coddling and justification.
Four main groups benefit from victimhood culture: the slave, the owner, the hustler, and the benefactor.
The Slave
The slave fears freedom. He does not want to be elevated beyond his victimhood and trauma.
The slave is the foundational piece of victimhood culture. He embraces his status as a victim and uses that status to gain resources and sympathy. He refuses to resolve the pain or burdens he is experiencing.
Remember, a victim usually has legitimate grievances. But a victim becomes a slave when he refuses concrete, direct solutions. He will also overinflate his struggles and ignore the positives or opportunities in his life. Lastly, he will advocate for systems and rules that harm or restrict innocent people.
For example, an obese person may feel bad about her weight. She will blame society for fat-shaming, so she can externalize her responsibility. The obese individual will demand free healthcare, a costly, unsustainable “solution” that makes healthcare more expensive, especially for the healthy. However, the solutions to her obesity are obvious: diet and exercise.
Without the slave, we have no victims. Thus, no victimhood culture.
The Owner
The owner is the individual, group, or entity that profits from the slave’s inaction and whining. They profit through the preservation of victimhood culture, using money, power, and influence.
For example, many black Americans do not believe it is their responsibility to reduce crime in their communities, eliminate fatherlessness, or improve mental health. They blame external, fictional factors such as “white supremacy” instead of embracing responsibility.
Who “owns” this issue? Multiple entities, such as the government, benefit from a populace of broken people who will always need a savior. Some corporations have an easier time selling mass-produced junk to mentally and spiritually broken individuals.
However, if black people were to keep their families intact and improve their mental and physical health, then the government couldn’t be a savior and buy votes. Or the corporations couldn’t sell unhealthy foods or spiritually destructive entertainment to broken people addicted to comfort.
When the victim refuses to be a slave, the owner can’t profit from the victim’s trauma and sense of entitlement.
The Hustler
“When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.” – Thomas Sowell
The hustler is responsible for convincing the victim that he is a slave.
Usually, most victims realize how much power they do have. These victims will move to right their lives, especially if they have virtuous friends, communities, and culture to support them.
Therefore, the hustler’s job is to stop such personal growth by undermining self-improvement and demonizing virtuous individuals who want to help the victim.
For example, there are “red pill” gurus whose job is to convince men they are victims. The gurus sell a narrative of powerlessness that creates resentment in men. These men blame external factors for their lack of success in family, career, love, and life.
The gurus demonize individuals who encourage men to embrace responsibility, seek better women, and empower their lives through self-control and service to others. Once virtue has been demonized, the men enslave themselves to the owners, then seek hustlers who will maintain the victimhood narrative.
It’s important to note that the hustler can also be the owner. The red pill gurus will say men are powerless, then sell online courses on how to be more powerful. They cripple the slave, then sell him the crunches needed to walk.
The Benefactor
The benefactor believes destroying a victim’s ability to self-improve is a moral good.
Lastly, the benefactor is the useful idiot who wants to show how good they are through meaningless gestures. Examples include the male feminist, the pick-me girl, the trans ally, and so on.
The benefactor is both hustler and owner. They hustle by reinforcing the slave’s victim narrative through consumption and empty gestures. A good example is the white liberal in the homogenous neighborhood placing a Black Lives Matter sign on their front yard.
They are the owner in that they profit by feeling more virtuous than others. But this virtue is false: the benefactor does not become stronger, more capable, or smarter. Additionally, they gain little, if any, money, power, or influence for their blind support.
But the benefactor is also a slave. He cannot question his own narrative even if he becomes a victim of it. For example, the white liberal who blindly supports Black Lives Matter can’t question the narrative even if he is victimized by a black person. Therefore, the benefactor is trapped, just like the slave is trapped, and he has no real power over himself or the broader victimhood culture he loves.
Lastly, they are bullies. They enforce social and cultural norms that force virtuous, reasonable people to fall in line for fear of legal or communal attack. For example, LGBTQ+ allies will immediately call you a “transphobe” or “homophobe” if you bring nuance to any conversation dealing with queer people. If you work with these allies, they will try to get you fired. If you have any influence, they will try to get you canceled.
You Can Fight Against Victimhood Culture
Always remember that victimhood culture is disastrous. Therefore, do what I have always urged: improve yourself. Let the world go.
Don’t be a victim of other people’s insanity.
Actionables
“If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today.” – Thomas Sowell
- Have you ever felt like a victim, or have been a victim? What did you do to help yourself? Do you still like a victim? If yes, do you want to? What can you do to give yourself closure?
- Have you known many victims in your life? What were they like? How many of them embraced their victimhood, becoming slaves to status?
- Have you ever helped others gain closure from their trauma? What was the process like?
Reading List
- Three Ways to Protect Yourself from Addicts – Unfortunately, most victims are not encouraged to improve themselves. Thus, they end up slaves and addicts to their vices. It’s important to help these people when we can, but ultimately, you must protect yourself from such dysfunction.
- They Lie to Themselves – Many benefactors will convince themselves that they are helping victims by creating excuses. Benefactors are delusional and will lie to themselves. Prepare accordingly.
- Chasm of Despair – There will be despair if you are trying to overcome a vice or trauma. Fortunately, this chasm, while painful to travel, will lead you to greener pastures.
Please remember that it’s important to do the actionables. You’re not on this earth to simply read but to do. To become an individual, you must act more than you consume.
*Image credit to Unsplash.
