His number one reason perfectly fits in with MRA issues and the role of feminism in our society:
A lifelong study of good and evil has led to me conclude that the greatest single cause of evil is people perceiving of themselves or their group as victims.
This is a great point, and examples that come to mind are legion...here a few that Prager mentions:
Nazism arose from Germans' sense of victimhood -- as a result of the Versailles Treaty, of the "stab in the back" that led to Germany's loss in World War I and of a world Jewish conspiracy.
Communism was predicated on workers regarding themselves as victims of the bourgeoisie.
Much of Islamic evil today emanates from a belief that the Muslim world has been victimized by Christians and Jews.
Many prisoners, including those imprisoned for horrible crimes, regard themselves as victims of society or of their upbringing.
The list of those attributing their evil acts to their being victims is as long as the list of evildoers.
The victim mindset creates a condition for which any behavior can be condoned and justified, because it is done in the name of "justice" for the "victim."
The mother and wife that unjustly has her husband removed from the home and alienated from his children and put into dire financial straits feels justified in doing so because she is the "victim" of his anger.
The "feminist icon" that compared being a housewife to be equivalent to concentration camp prisoner, led an entire generation of people astray with her ideas that a housewife was a victim of "Patriarchal Oppression." Millions of broken homes, fatherless children and kids raised in dysfunction by daycare are now the results of women suckered into believing that being a wife and a mother was the same thing as being a victim.
If my belief is even partially correct, the preoccupation of much of America with telling whole groups that they are victims -- of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and classism, among other American sins -- can only increase cruelty and evil in America.I believe Prager is quite correct, and it is with this in mind that I sound a warning to the MRA movement:
We must fight feminism and injustice done in the name of "gender equality," but we MUST avoid taking on the mantle of the "victim." It is this very mindset that has led us to where we are today.
It makes no sense to become that for which you've spent so much time and energy opposing in the first place.
3 comments:
Excellent observation.
Sort of the common denominator for all these groups is the victim mentality.
Interesting, as divorce lawyers use that exact same tactic to coerce unsure housewives into blood thirsty divorces.
And the war on terrorism...
I agree with you but to a point:
There is considerable evidence that the Jews were victimized by anti-semitic forces in WWII as a result of the latter's misplaced victimology.
Similarly, there is overwhelming evidence that men are victimized by anti-male forces as a result of the latter's misplaced victimology.
Where considerable doubt exists in the first place is with the rationale for the victimology of both the anti-semitic (perceived undeserved monopoly over finances etc.) and the anti-male forces (patriarchy).
Victimology is justified when one actually has a case for being a victim. However, upon adequately having the grievances addressed, there is no reason for one to feel victimized. It ALWAYS has a finite timeline.
The victim mindset creates a condition for which any behavior can be condoned and justified, because it is done in the name of "justice" for the "victim."
Excellant point. There is a difference between recognizing and setting out to repair a wrong and being a victim. I think, in any movement, avoiding the victim mentality while pursuing what is just and right is what separates the activists from the extremists.
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