We live in the era of megaphone victimhood. People shout their grievances from the rooftops. Anyone who suggests a person might show some strength of character is reviled as lacking compassion.
Any vile behaviour is justified as a response to wrongs done previously. I will behead you because "Crusades". You hurt my feelings by adopting the hairstyle of my culture. Broad spectrum of victims.
It will be a good day when folks are advised to consider carefully their claims of being wronged before advancing them and where the validity of their supposed response is permitted to be challenged.
The knee-jerk me-victim claims are crowding out the genuine ones.
We are vertebrate creatures. Folks need to show at least some spine. If there is any particular virtue that is admirable in America, it is including muscular individuallism in the mix of what makes an upstanding person. Even Ayn Rand identified this, although of course she reduced it to wooden isolation in the characters in her novels, just as Gary Cooper and John Wayne did in their movies. Maybe it was born amongst the hardy settlers of Jamestown. Or maybe on the wild frontier. Who knows.
Taking advantage of others' compassion is an ugly form of self indulgence - and deceit.
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