Shellenberger opined on November 6, 2022 that
“We have transitioned from the age of dignity to the age of victimhood,” argues Israeli psychologist and narcissism expert, Sam Vaknin. “Every single political and social movement nowadays has converted itself into a victimhood movement. Many ideologies, which were not victimhood-oriented, have become victimhood-oriented.”
Such is the case with the climate change movement. “This is all wrong,” said Greta Thunberg at the United Nations. “I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us, young people for hope. How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”
It wasn’t always this way. “In the past, victimhood movements, for example, the civil rights movements in the United States, were not narcissistic,” Vaknin argues. “They were actually goal-oriented, purpose-oriented. Today most victimhood movements are about grandiosity.”
You can probably tell why Vaknin’s warning resonates with me. I have changed my mind about many issues over the last two decades. But for nearly 20 years I have warned that victimhood movements are disempowering, toxic, and dangerous. My essay last year, “Why I am not a progressive,” explained why the Left’s orientation toward victimhood led me to reject that label.
Why I Am Not A Progressive
For all of my adult life I have identified as a progressive. To me, being a progressive meant that I believed in empowerment. In 2002, when I co-founded a labor-environmental coalition to advocate for renewable energy, the symbol we chose to represent us was of Rosie the Riveter, an image of a woman factory worker during World War II flexing her muscle beneath the words, “We Can Do It!”. When President Barack Obama ran for office in 2008, it seemed fitting to me that he chose the slogan, “Yes we can…
Vaknin agrees. “This is an exceedingly dangerous phenomenon because narcissism is about a lack of empathy. It's about entitlement. And it’s exploitative. ‘I'm a victim, so I'm a saint. I'm morally superior to you. I have a right because I have a grievance. I'm entitled. You have an obligation towards me.’”
Sam Vaknin on the danger of victimhood movements - transcript:
Sam Vaknin: In the case of the narcissist, decompensation is accompanied by another type of behavior known as acting out. Narcissists then engage in temper tantrums similar to children. Acting out involves acting with little or no insight or reflection, and only in order to attract attention. They rage. They attack others if they don't get what they want
Greta Thunberg: If you choose to fail us, I say, we will never forgive you.
Vaknin: All of this is intended to support, or buttress, their sense of superiority.
Thunberg: We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of each handle. Economic growth. How dare you!
Vaknin: We have transitioned from the age of dignity to the age of victimhood. Every single political and social movement nowadays has converted itself into a victimhood movement. Many ideologies, which were not victimhood-oriented, have become victimhood oriented.
Thunberg: This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us, young people for hope. How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.
Vaknin: This is an exceedingly dangerous phenomenon because narcissism is about a lack of empathy. It's about entitlement. And it’s exploitative. “I'm a victim, so I'm a saint. I'm morally superior to you. I have a right because I have a grievance. I'm entitled. You have an obligation toward me.”
Thunberg: How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you are doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight?
Vaknin: In the past, victimhood movements, for example, the civil rights movements in the United States, were not narcissistic. They were actually goal-oriented, and purpose-oriented. Today most victimhood movements are about grandiosity.
Thunberg: We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up and change is coming whether you like it or not.
Vaknin: They don't have any meaningful agendas.
Thunberg: How dare you pretend that this can be sold with just business as usual and some technical solutions. There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today
Vaknin: They just want to be heard. They want to garner attention. They want to become celebrities and famous. They want to control, They want to have power. They're power-oriented. They are entitled and aggressive.
Interviewer: How dangerous do you think that the victim culture might be to our societies?
Vaknin: There is a precipitous collapse in the production of new children. Now we say, “We don't need children!” But we have 2 billion people who are old, over the age of 65. We are missing children 200-300 million children in order to support the pension schemes, forget the other things. We have a deficit in children that is a direct outcome of the gender wars and the unigender approach. Thirty-one percent of adults in industrialized countries are single for life. They don't have relationships. They have two cats and Netflix. That's what they have for life. You know, it's a bad situation. Women and men are totally disoriented.
Interviewer: How do you confront those two issues at the same time?
Vaknin: One way to do that is to provide alternatives to grandiosity, — other outlets to grandiosity. So, for example, someone's grandiosity is invested in their victimhood. Maybe you should redirect the grandiosity towards overcoming victimhood.
If you say, “I've been the victim of an abuser. It's horrible. I'm morally superior because of my abuse. It was wrong morally, and I've been right.”
You could say, “Well, maybe you can overcome your victimhood. Maybe you're strong, maybe you're resilient. Maybe you have untapped resources and you can overcome your victimhood and your suffering and then teach others. This is a form of redirecting grandiosity.
Narcissism is energy. It's a force. It's the need to support your grandiosity by eliciting narcissistic supply from other people. So channel it. You can elicit supply by pretending to be a victim, or you can elicit supply by demonstrating to the world what a strong, resilient person you are and how you overcome your victimhood.
Climate change is here. It's coming. It'll be upon us. Better prepare for it rather than try to reverse it. Same with narcissism. The tsunami is here. Start swimming. So rather than trying to reverse narcissism, we should try to channel it.
We need to redirect public discourse away from compensating for victimhood toward a discourse of overcoming. This was the original message of the civil rights movement. You remember the song, “We Shall Overcome”? This was the original message. They didn't ask for money. They didn't ask for affirmative action. They didn't ask for any of this bullshit. They just asked to be treated equally and unfairly, and they agreed to do the job themselves of reconstituting their lives and overcoming. Triumphing!
Everyone has been victimized at one time or another. That you have been subject to abuse and suffering, that you have been victimized, doesn't make you a victim. Victimhood is an identity. It's not the same as being victimized. Everyone is a victim to someone. We must stop this. We must stop the conversion to identity politics. And when we see it happening, we must confront, confronted everywhere in with everything at our disposal.
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