Tuesday, September 2, 2014

just deserts

Oh, you got robbed? Shouldn't have kept stuff in your house.

Raped? Shouldn't have been so attractive.

Pickpocketed? Why were you carrying money on your person?

Killed by a drone? Shoulda been born in a country that doesn't get bombed so often.

Get hacked? Shouldn't have put nude you in a place where people might see it if they disregard any need for your consent and pry your curtains open and film you in your shower and upload it.  

You deserved it. You did a stupid thing, a bad thing. Now suffer, scum. "Deserve" is code for "go die" (as my brain rejects the representation of you).

There's your victim blaming in a nutshell.

If there's an argument there, it's: You did X, therefore I'm personally glad to see you suffer (again, what "deserve" and the like mean). But the desire to see suffering is not an argument. A rationalization of feelings born from one's own suffering? Sounds about right.

(If it seems like I'm strawmanning, think about that word "deserve" again and its essential role in victim blaming. You can't make the case without it.)