The politics and economics of victimhood

Victimhood can be defined as a psychological mindset where individuals, groups or organisations consistently view themselves as victims of others’ actions and blame others for their misfortunes, constantly seek sympathy and support for their viewpoints, and rarely accept any responsibility for harm inflicted by them.

Many groups practise organised victimhood across the world – the United States, Israel, Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, MAGA, the South African whites, Meta, Microsoft, Google, etc. The list is endless. Social scientists who first came up with the concept of victimhood have addressed the issue from diverse perspectives, but the psychological one has prevailed. Missing from the discussion are the political and economic forces that better explain why the world is suffering a surfeit of victimhood.

Given his actions and pronouncements as president, Trump should consider writing a book titled The Art of Victimhood. His Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement is a stellar example of the victimhood mindset.

When Trump blamed immigrants for taking away jobs from white Americans, never mind that the locals are either unwilling to work, as in the agricultural sector, or unqualified, since they do not have the education or the necessary technical skills, as in the software sector, he was catering to a disgruntled group of people unwilling to shoulder responsibility for their shortcomings but all too ready to blame immigrants, mostly non-whites from the Global South.

When Trump imposed punitive tariffs on over a hundred nations across the globe, the rationale he provided was that these nations were taking advantage of America in matters pertaining to trade. America as a victim was the overwhelming message conveyed to the world. The discussion conveniently omitted the egregious exploitation of workers and natural resources in these nations by the US.

That the victimhood mindset is also widely prevalent in Big Tech companies such as Google, Meta, and Microsoft can be readily seen from how the companies responded when the European Union (EU) nations cracked down on their monopolistic behaviour and invasions of privacy by levying huge fines. Pleading victimhood, they asked the US government to intervene and resolve the matter.

More recently, when the United Kingdom was contemplating imposing a digital services tax on the likes of Amazon, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on the country. In contributing millions of dollars to Trump’s election campaigns, Big Tech did expect a quid pro quo in due course. He who pays the piper calls the tune, even if it is only discordant notes of a trumpet. In politics, as in life, nothing is free.

Likewise, some 6,000 miles away, another high-tech nation-state, namely Israel, has been captured by the victimhood mindset. Notwithstanding the Holocaust which occurred almost ninety years ago when Israel wasn’t even in existence, the victimhood mindset that has developed in its citizenry without any of them experiencing severe trauma or victimisation is astounding, a fact that can only be explained by constant reminders to the people that the Holocaust did happen and that antisemitism and anti-Zionism have no place in society, irrespective of whatever violence that has been visited upon Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and settlers alike.

Moreover, any legitimate criticism of Israel is automatically construed as antisemitic even though the criticism may have no religious overtones whatsoever. Any policy centred on ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’ can hardly be conducive to changing the victimhood mindset.

If you were to analyse the root causes of all internecine conflicts, they can all be traced back to the victimhood mindset. Government programmes to rectify past injustices directed at specific minority groups result in reverse discrimination lawsuits by majoritarian groups since the latter feel that they have been victimised. It is immaterial as to on what basis groups are defined or formed – religion, caste, colour, disability, ethnicity, gender, tribe, linguistic, etc.

A handful of examples from across the globe should suffice to bring home the point that the victimhood mindset is universal. In the 1950s and 60s, Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu blamed ‘Aryan’ Brahmins for suppressing them in employment, education, and social progress.

These parties won the state elections in 1967 and have been winning elections until their loss earlier this month. Likewise, in Sri Lanka, the majoritarian Sinhalese shut out the Tamils from civil society. Similar events have transpired in Malaysia and Myanmar. The balkanisation of the former Yugoslavia into several smaller ethnically defined nation-states has also come about because of the victimhood mindset among the populace.

One man’s meat is another man’s poison. Vegetarians and vegans should take note.

Roger Marshall is a computer scientist, a newly minted Luddite and a cynic

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH)