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Society & Philosophy
When the Victims Become the Perpetrators
Philosophical musings to link wokeness, identity, suffering, and wisdom.
“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”
— Harlan Ellison
Unlike Harlan Ellison’s titular short story, today…we all have mouths and we are all screaming.
But no one hears us and few people care. Because all of us are screaming simultaneously into the black mirror. Some of us scream verbally. Others are better with their thumbs. Regardless of the form, only the exceptions are heard. The most victimized, the most damaging, and the most dramatic. Praise be to the most horrific, sh*t-stirring, and tagline-memorable content. Only the screams decided by mainstream media or tech platform algorithms rise to the top, worthy of being heard. The rest are absorbed silently by the void that gradually fills our souls as we are ignored.
Yes, that includes you, and you there, and even you, dear reader. We are all victims in this hot mess, yet many don’t consciously ponder this as they’re satisfied with the entertaining distractions of modern consumerism and materialism.
Today, I’m attempting to tie together some random thoughts on wokeness/identity politics with concepts like victimhood, suffering, and wisdom in the larger scheme of things. There have been far too many loose ends running amok by the rapid news cycle that I think we’ve lost sight of things as a species.
1. Does one truly know themselves? Thoughts on the identity of wokeness and victimhood.
At its heart, the wokeness movement/trend is a celebration of identity. That’s what it comes down to. It is a belief that all identities and characterizations of oneself, whether fact-based or completely made up in la-la land, deserve to be heard and treated fairly. Even if the end population is a few thousand people who identify as XYZ, they should still be given equal voices and treatment. And most people have…
