On Being A Victim, The Language of Racism, and Turning Japanese
The perversion of the word,”victim” illustrates the latest method used to silence any criticism of the systemic racism that has persisted here in the United States for nearly 250 years. The word has been perverted in an attempt to make "victim" synonymous with "weakness". Derivatives associated with this perversion are "victim-mentality" and "victim-hood". No one wants to be labeled as weak, and so the perversion of the word has had a profound effect on a great percentage of U.S. citizens: white , black, and in-between.
It is not uncommon to hear an African or Indigenous person say with conviction: “I refuse to be a victim!” or “He refused to play the race card and give in to a “victim-mentality!” etc.. When we hear a member of a minority parroting this relatively new racist mantra, we understand that their mind has been effectively colonized.
The word "victim", is defined as follows:
A. a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action. B. a person who is tricked or duped.
As anyone can see, the definition does not indicate strength or weakness, or a flaw in character, but only a state of being harmed in some way. Neither does it indicate whether or not an individual recovered emotionally from any trauma associated with a particular event. Furthermore, this word always pertains to the present tense. Many ignorant people will not understand my meaning, and so I will throw them a bone: If a man is intimately assaulted as a child, the actual event is obviously past tense, as the passage of time clearly distinguishes between the man and the child. However, according to the definition, the passage of time has no effect on the man's status as a victim. For instance, If someone should ever ask this man: "As a child, were you ever the victim of an intimate assault?”, it would only be a half-truth for the man to respond:"Yes, I “was” a victim". The linking verb "was" indicates past tense. In other words, a condition that no longer exists. To further illustrate: On the other hand, when a Fireman retires it "is" proper for him to say "I “was” a Fireman", because the condition no longer exists.
The definition of “victim” makes it clear that once you are a victim of anything, you shall forever be a victim; because you "were" harmed, you "were" injured, or you "were" killed. The only way you could change your victim status would be to go back in time and prevent the injurious event from ever happening! One might argue that the question as framed is pertaining to the past tense. They might point out that the man was asked “...were you ever...?”, and he correctly responded “Yes,I was...”. Such a response may be common and expeditious, but it is still only a half-truth. The man not only “was” a victim of an intimate assault as a child, but the man also still “is” the victim of an intimate assault, and will forever be a victim of such an assault. And as I have already stated in other words, this does not imply any particular mental or emotional characteristic other than a state of being harmed.
Once we dispense with the racist perversion of the word “victim”, we can understand that the African and the Indigenous here in America “were” and "are" victims of an oppressive racist system based on Manifest Destiny and white supremacy, as well as victims of capitalist oppression. As far as the Euro-American proletariat are concerned, they are not victims of systemic racism, but they are certainly victims of capitalist oppression, and tyranny. And so we can understand that a member of a minority who claims that he is not a victim, only confirms that he is twice as ignorant as his white Euro-American counterpart.
To look at this from another perspective: The evil cabal of Dick Cheney and George Bush referred to those killed on 9/11 as victims of a terrorist attack. Obviously, a majority of Americans also believed the people killed in the attack were victims, otherwise there would have been no popular support for the war in Iraq. Alan Jackson wrote a song about it: "Where Were You When The World Stop Turning?" He also apparently felt that the people killed on 9/11 were victims of a terrorist attack. And he was correct in feeling this way, because regardless of who carried out this evil deed, the people who died will forever be the victims of a vicious attack, and that will never change in a million years! According to the perverse racist logic concerning “victim-hood”, it follows that anyone killed on 9/11 who we might refer to as a "victim", which includes grieving family members, is necessarily weak, and unable to "get over it". And so, I must ask: "How does a dead man "get over" being the dead victim of a terrorist attack? And when does a grieving family member stop being a victim of 9/11?". Of course, such a thing is impossible on either count.
The word “victim” is a word that defines us forever, and there are other words and events that define us forever as well. For instance: A man born with the characteristics of a so-called "white man", a man with blue eyes and blonde hair, will forever in this lifetime be a white man. And he can only be defined as a white man in the present tense. It would be absurd, and totally false for someone to say: "I "was" a white man with blonde hair and blue eyes". Regardless of any superficial or permanent changes he may make in his appearance, or mental perspective, fundamentally he will remain a white man. There will never come a day when he will wake up, look in the mirror, and realize that sometime during the night he became Japanese. For a white man,or a man of any other race, “Turning Japanese” is only a temporary condition.
Using the common vernacular to weaponize certain words is a clever, and insidious tactic. Many do not even see it coming because it is not an overt form of racism. But it can be deadlier than a bullet. That is because a man will never challenge his oppressor, or even acknowledge that he is oppressed if he does not first understand that he is a victim, that he has been maliciously harmed or injured, or that members of his race are being viciously attacked and killed because of their race. But this tactic is not only confined to the realm of racism. It has become fashionable to label anyone who challenges the status quo, demanding redress of a particular grievance, as someone who has succumbed to a “victim mentality”.
The great irony here is that according to the perverse,racist definition of "victim", the U.S. government exhibits more of a "victim-mentality" than the individual citizen. We can see this being played out in various ways:
• increased security at airports: passengers being frisked, their belongings being scanned etc.
• heightened security and camera surveillance at courthouses across the U.S.
• government surveillance of citizens on city streets
• the increasing use of drones to invade the privacy of the ordinary citizen
• un-constitutional and evil laws such as the Patriot Act
Apparently , the corrupt U.S. government fears that it might soon become the "victim" of a revolution!
Victims of The World Unite
Regardless of race
Be who you are
You who have been harmed and injured by an evil system
You who have been fashioned into a commodity
You who have beem enslaved by evil men
Stand up before the world
Accept that you are a victim
Indentify your oppressors
Be proud
Be relentless
Overcome your oppressors
And be free!
© 2016 Ronnie wrenchBiscuit