By Paul Weiser
In "Embracing Defeat," John W. Dower makes the point (among many others) that the sense of victimhood can serve as a defense against acknowledging one's own victimization of others. Though the observation comes from a particular place and time, its repercussions merit careful examination.
The people of defeated Japan, under American occupation after World War Two, developed a strong consensus that they were the suffering victims of the war. Many were starving and in rags; their cities lay in ruins; the surviving soldiers had lost comrades who were lost, as well, to parents and children. The only question was whom to blame (Japanese wartime governments that had committed the country to unwinnable war and "tricked" the people into enthusiasm for it, or Americans who had physically caused death and destruction).
This sense of victimhood allowed surviving Japanese to ignore the atrocious, inhuman conduct of Japanese forces in Asia and the Pacific. Being equally victims evaded responsibility for their own very real enthusiasm and bloodthirstiness... including that of their lost soldiers. This was not the psychological defense mechanism of projection, more a form of balancing - an emotional tu quoque. It is not unique.
Consider America's two established "victim" groups - blacks and women (not to mention up-and-coming illegals). Yes, blacks were slaves and women suffered legal inequality... but, just as with the Japanese armies, they also were (and continue to be) great victimizers. Blacks commit a vastly disproportionate amount of violent crime - and not only (though principally) against each other. Women exercise "soft power" to victimize their men: does a few months' pregnancy and a few hours' labor really equal a lifetime of thankless work, belittling, divorce and illegal but winked-at denial of conjugal and visitation rights?
No. But victimhood shields and masks the atrocities of those who embrace it.
None of Your Lib (NOLIB) is a weekly column, appearing
each Monday. Email responses and requests
to Paul Weiser
- be sure to specify in the body of the message that
your mail is to NOLIB. Some past articles are in the
NOLIB archives, and you are also invited to
visit
my home page. All responses
are appreciated,
and may be incorporated into succeeding columns in whole
or in part unless the sender requests otherwise. And of
course, the opinions expressed are those of the columnist and
may
not reflect the views or opinions of gte.net.