alt Hacker NewsI don't know how much this plays a role, and this is anecdotal, but I feel like the last 5-10 years or so, folks have put increasing stock in being (or being portrayed as) a victim.
A hobby growing in popularity seems to be perusing the internet on the lookout for something to be "outraged" by, no matter how mundane.
As someone who played hockey for years, this always felt like such a contrast from my experience where the norm was to conceal an injury and power through so you could keep playing.
If you were bleeding and unphased, you were the envy of your teammates. If a guy was limping off the ice after blocking a shot, you did not want to see the bruise he had underneath.
What I will be interested in seeing is, as students graduate into the job market, how the feigning victimhood approach fits into getting a well paying job. For all I know, it may pay off. Only time will tell I guess.
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> I feel like the last 5-10 years or so, folks have put increasing stock in being (or being portrayed as) a victim.
I've actually noticed the same pattern where I live in Europe. Some young adults go to great lengths to find a psychiatrist that will diagnose them something. I heard than on multiple occasions, reported by doctors themselves, and anecdotal evidence.
To be honest, I don't know how much this is a reality, and how much of it is an old man rant :)
"Grievance culture," I believe, is the term you are looking for.
Most of the power in that came from classes of victims being untouchable. Some of that was the decorum of not wanting to punch down. Some was the reasonable ask that people realize they had advantages others didn't have.
All of it was completely unprepared for being gamed and infiltrated by bad faith actors.
I imagine most people are secretly turned off by the victim card (for the same reason you’d avoid someone who always has a “woe is me” story) but who knows how that affects the job market when virtue signaling is so powerful.
People don't hunt down outrage posts, they are delivered to them by algorithms seeking maximum engagement. The solution is nothing less than to outlaw recommendation algorithms.
I blame soccer for starting this societal trend.
Fool the ref, win the game.
(only partially tongue-in-cheek)
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You can get all sorts of extra accommodations at school and work now if you're diagnosed with a disability. Disability rates have thus exploded. I support giving reasonable accommodations to people who are truly disabled but we have medicalized a lot of minor stuff that people ought to just "power through".
https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/40-percent-st...