Recently there has been a strong debate going on between Jon Stewart, of The Daily Show, and Fox News. His frustration can be summarized by quoting his own words:
Any editorial judgment in news, or schools, or movies, that doesn’t favor the conservative view, is elitism and is evidence of liberal bias. Whereas any editorial judgment that FAVORS the conservative view, is evidence of merely fairness and done to protect them from liberal bias … And, if you criticize Fox for this game, guess what that’s evidence of? How right they are about how persecuted they are. … They can’t lose. But you know what this whole ‘victim thing’ makes Fox? Well, perhaps this term a friend of mine used once to describe the current presidential administration is most apt: … the biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with in my 30 years in Washington.
Not surprisingly, there have been blogs and articles saying that it is Jon Stewart who is the crybaby. One newspaper editorial even said that he appeared to be on the edge of a nervous collapse. But, actually, Jon Stewart has pointed out something that has become a hallmark even in some Christian circles. The odd thing is that it used to be conservatives who would complain about a “culture of victimization” For instance, back in 1992, Charles J. Sykes wrote a book called, A Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character. In that book he looked at the future and commented:
Something extraordinary is happening in American society. Crisscrossed by invisible trip wires of emotional, racial, sexual, and psychological grievance, American life is increasingly characterized by the plaintive insistence, I am a victim,” …
We want to be a pain-free, no-fault, no-guilt society. Frankly I think a little more personal guilt wouldn’t hurt us at all, …
There are real victims and people who have suffered genuine misery. The problem is, they tend to get lost in the shuffle. …
Bogus victims drive out real victims. There are so many claims that are so shrill on the nation’s compassion that this generates overload leading to backlash and cynicism. …
There are short-term advantages to victim status, at least three of them. First, the victim is always innocent. Second, the victim has moral authority. Third, there are specific entitlements and benefits.
He was not the only one who warned of this increasing problem. Back in the same year, Walter Olson wrote a book called The Litigation Explosion. In it he warned:
You get to a list of grievances so long that you could redistribute the entire GNP without getting to the bottom of them. … Getting along with people, forgiving people, has been thought of over most of history as being a virtue, not as being a chump. We’ve gone down an odd path when to overlook the possible chance of suing is something you should apologize for.
Yes, it was conservatives who complained about a growing culture of victimization. But, during that same time, and silently, that same culture of victimization which conservatives supposedly saw liberals as encouraging began to be encouraged. Oddly enough, it was by some Christians. If you remember, there was a growing chorus in the Moral Majority that it was necessary for us Christians to take action because we were being persecuted and driven out by liberals. And so, a culture of victimization began to grow, first among Christians and then spreading over into conservatism.
Just like some on the left, many on the right have found out that playing the victim card incessantly is a great psychological defense against any criticisms that may be levied against you. The same people who jump on any African-Americans that they perceive as playing the Uncle Tom card against conservative African-Americans turn right around and publicly play the RINO (Republicans In Name Only) card against any Republican whom they do not view as conservative enough. The same people who see African-Americans as playing the “racist” card whenever an African-American is criticized quickly play the “liberal bias” card against any who dare criticize any part of their program. They have become every bit as immune to any critique as the very people whom they criticize for not accepting criticism. The same people who will quickly point out those who insult them as proof of a general bias are the same ones who will always claim that any insults hurled by any of their people are not from the group, but from lone individuals.
It does not matter whether the left or the right engages in victimization. Both sides are wrong when they engage in that type of behavior, and both sides have certainly been guilty of it and continue to be guilty of it. But, here is the problem for us Christians. When we engage in victimization, we simply anger people rather than helping to bring solutions to problems. When we claim that we are being persecuted, we draw attention away from those who are truly being persecuted and are truly suffering for their faith. When we claim bias every time someone critiques us, we are in danger of not hearing a grievance that we may need to hear. It does not matter whether we are liberal, moderate, or conservative. Engaging in victimization is a game that leads to social explosion not to social solutions.
We do not need to engage in victimization. There is no problem with Christians engaging in politics, nor with Christians engaging the culture. There is not even any problem with Christians fighting certain changes to the law and to culture. But, when that is done from a posture of victimization, it will have a long-term negative effect both on us and on the culture. Rather, for those who wish to engage in politics, do engage in it. But, do it from a posture of strength, not from a posture of victim. Argue for what you believe, but be willing to listen to other’s criticisms. Finally, do realize that sometimes a race card or a victim card is not being played. Sometimes there is real racism, sometimes people have really been victimized. Learn to tell the difference between playing a card and relating something that is true. And, if you really truly are a victim, then tell your story with gentleness, with love, and reasonably in order that people may understand your claim and perhaps change.
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