This commentary by Waitman Wade Beorn for The Washington Post attempts to explain why right-wing extremists increasingly claim “victimhood.” Below are some excerpts from the article:
Why do the aggressors so often attempt to portray themselves as the victims? The case of the Nazi killers is an extreme example, but similar rhetoric from the American far right also demands explanation. The most obvious is a plea for sympathy. Another is a desire to be seen as defenders responding to attacks. Part and parcel of this is the frequent paradox of racism: Racists consider different ethnicities inferior but also existential threats. There is also the psychological comfort of portraying oneself as the victim.
But there is another, darker possibility. When the right associates itself with Jews in the Holocaust, it is appropriating the space reserved for victims. It is, in a sense, pushing the rightful victims out and attempting to absorb the sympathy and compassion they are owed. It is a form of re-victimization that has as its goal negating, relativizing or erasing real suffering.
There seems to be no small degree of projection (conscious or unconscious) at play here. While we cannot perhaps characterize Trump conservatism as inherently antisemitic, many of its fellow travelers are. The pushback against critical race theory also attempts to recenter victimhood away from those who have actually been harmed. In this instance, a predominantly White demographic is uncomfortable recognizing the suffering of minorities — because it is a mirror to their own complicity. In reaction, they forcefully try to insert themselves into the narrative as either the only victims or an equally victimized group. As one Twitter commenter noted about the Youngkin ad objecting to “Beloved,” “If your son was traumatized by reading a novel about slavery imagine how the actual enslaved people felt.”
The danger here is thatplaying the victim (as opposed to being the victim) can be addictive and energizing. The Republican establishment is actively playing into this economy of victimization. Nearly the entire Republican Party attempted to scuttle any investigation of the causes of the Jan. 6 insurrection, for instance. This is the first step in turning extremists into victims and then into martyrs.
Allowing the right to weave pernicious counternarratives and to create saints from sinners will only embolden future Ashli Babbitts and spawn more violence….
The problem with creating martyrs is that they are too often born of violence and death, and then used to perpetuate more violence. The cycle, as history has shown, is very hard to break.
[emphasis added]
I encourage people to read the entire article. It goes into detail about how “historically, this tactic has been part of the fascist playbook.” It is important that Americans understand how dangerous this tactic is.
Ok I know this is a trashpost but it makes a lot of sense. The genre is cyberPUNK. If it’s just high tech cool stuff world then it’s not cyberpunk. That’s just absolute destruction of the genre. Read Neuromancer before you make a neonliberal game.
