Innocence, Guilt, and Living with a Disability

“This puts me in a strange position as someone who can be unequivocally categorized as a victim and yet who has always had a difficult time seeing myself as one.”

It is no secret that our political and cultural moment is entrenched in pervasive feelings of victimhood and grievance that are weaponized to achieve institutional and social power. The problem is that it often works. The bitter outrage and resentment that arise from feelings of oppression are potent resources with which to craft compelling narratives, galvanize collective action, and ultimately assuage personal insecurities by shifting the locus of control over to external problems rather than internal ones.

Whatever psychological toll is exacted by identifying with our own subjugation can be momentarily outweighed by the warm embrace of our peers and the attendant sense of participation in a larger story that provides meaning to our lives. Although victimology creates inward inertia that prevents personal development, it also can generate outward momentum to advance political goals.

From woke identity politics to white racialism to radical Islamism to Antifa, there is power in the cultivation of victimhood. Virtually every major social movement is compelled to believe in its own victimization, regardless of how mainstream its ideas actually are—or how much power it actually has. If progressives were to acknowledge their cultural hegemony over major institutions, it would necessarily weaken their message, just as far-right identitarians acknowledging that whites still predominate in most positions of power would necessarily weaken theirs.