VIC + PVS = Pathetic Disaster!
Someone recently directed me to this blog posting. It's a piece by writer, Amy Alkon. She shares her criticism of Radical Feminism and touches upon the proponents of this movement that perpetuate what she calls the "Victim Industrial Complex" (VIC). I had never heard this term before, but like it.
The all encompassing idea of VIC is that a huge swath of society are victims. Let's briefly explore the definition of this word:
vic·tim
| noun | |
| 1. | an unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse circumstance |
| 2. | a person who is tricked or swindled |
Those who buy into the VIC view of the world adamantly maintain that ALL women and ALL children are victims. No harm actually ever has to come to one of these people. They're still regarded as a victim, whether they view themselves that way or not.
For every victim, there has to be an aggressor/perpetrator. If women & children are the victims then guess who the bad guys are? Excuse the obvious pun! But seriously, this does explain a lot about how such a mentality develops. I've met some women who live and breathe this stuff. The chips on their shoulders are so big that they must have severe back problems! About a decade ago I had experienced an unfortunate experience with one such woman and was talking with a psychologist friend of mine about her. He gave me the perfect line to use but I must admit I've not yet used it: "Just because you're a feminist doesn't prevent you from being an asshole!"
Long ago I invented a corollary to VIC called "PVS", which stands for "Permanent Victim Syndrome". I did so when I noticed that certain people I met were constantly feeling sorry for themselves, seemingly unable and/or unwilling to resolve the issues that were burdening them. They found it easier to always blame others or just "life" in general for all their woes. Only after I read The Celestine Prophecy did I learn that victims were on the other side of the same coin as aggressors in that both were using different techniques to the same effect: to manipulate others. This realization was a real wake-up call for me.
5 comments:
Hey, thanks very much. I made up the term "Victim Industrial Complex," to describe the industry of victimhood -- the women (and a few weirdo men) who benefit financially, and in status, by promoting the notion that all women are victims and all men are victimizers. This point of view is twisted, irrational, hateful, and it creates poisonous feelings between women and men.
PS My column used to run up there in B.C. -- both in Vancouver and Victoria. I'll see if I can get it back in the paper up there again -- either in the daily or in an alt weekly.
Thanks so much for linking to the piece I wrote.
Amy,
An avid reader of you blog referred me to it. Great, great stuff! I'm honoured that you visited my little corner of the World Wide Web.
I'm curious to know if you search for references to you through Technorati.
Mail about one's work has certainly changed in the Internet age, hasn't it? Dennis Miller had a funny story about mail during his days on SNL. He related how Dana Carvey was getting mountains of letters every week whereas he himself was only get 4: One was from a guy in prison and the other 3 were written with crayon.
Actually, you should appear on his show talking about your Victim Inudstrial Complex idea. It so fits in with his line of thinking of what's wrong with America and 2X more wrong with Canada and 50X more wrong with France!!!
Ah yes, so true! So many people buy into that. Have you ever heard of REAL women? It's a woman's group with common sense, that is constantly monitoring the government and other groups, to hold them accountable, working to correct those kind of views, like all women are victims, all men are oppressors....the women bring concerns to the government, will even fight in court over issues. The founder is Gwen Landolt, who's a lawyer and devotes her time to speak for us women who don't think like feminists.
REAL women hey? -- read their web site:
To promote, secure and defend legislation which upholds the Judeo-Christian understanding of marriage and family life.
PFFFFT.
No thanks! I'll keep reading Amy's column.
I'm not against all feminist ideals. As Amy Alkon wrote, things like equal pay for 2 people doing the same job, equal employment opportunities and respect in the workplace, etc. are all good things.
But the bureaucracy behind feminism, just like the bureaucracy behind anything has a propensity similar to that of a living organism: It wants to remain living and, in fact, to keep growing.
So it's not hard to envision that once the early, critical issues were achieved, the early feminist pioneers wanted more & more & more. They were undoubtedly shocked to discover that when they told men that they should suppress their male attributes and instead focus on their feminine side, they were told to get lost! (At least by the majority of men)
What to do? Hmmmm, let's declare all women as victims and insist that they be given special rights & privileges! This, I think, is one of the trends that issued in this era of Political Correctness, a period in time that historians will certainly frown upon.
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