So there is this madness drama controversy conversation going on about whether or not sending a non-Christian a card that says Merry Christmas is offensive or not. Let me just say that while I completely agree with him, I can understand the basis of her point of view as well, although I find her radical conservative arguments extremely flawed. Perhaps they sound that way because they are coming from an “opinionated ultra liberal” who is obliviously selfish and narcissistic, therefore at odds with herself. Still, that is neither here nor there.
The part that irked me the most was the portrayal of victimization via Hallmark that was being put forth. Is it really possible to become a victim by a greeting card? If it is possible to consider yourself a victim through the evils of a greeting card company, can I consider myself a victim of Mead the notebook company for manufacturing all those black and white notebooks I had to write in during elementary school? Has McDonald‘s victimized me by stripping all sandwiches off their dollar menu forcing me to eat only cookies for dinner? Was Sears an accomplice when my mother made me a plaid fashion victim of the 80’s?
Self-victimization, in my opinion, is a bit out of control. So to properly define exactly what a victim is via Merriam Webster…
Victim
vic·tim
1: a living being sacrificed to a deity or in the performance of a religious rite
2: one that is acted on and adversely affected by a force or agent: as a (1): one that is injured, destroyed, or sacrificed under any of various conditions (2): one that is subjected to oppression, hardship, or mistreatment (3): one that is tricked or duped
So using that definition, I can’t see how receiving a Hallmark card of any kind might cause any injury greater than a papercut, Mead has not destroyed my being through it’s lines on a page, my soul has not been sacrificed on the altar of Grimace for the Clown High Lord profits, but I do think that perhaps Sears did dupe my mother into thinking plaid was cool. Even with that last one, I was not the one duped, and therefore I am an indirect victim… and therefore according to the definition not a victim at all.
There was one time where I could legitimately consider myself a victim. I was around 17, it was during the holiday season, and I found myself on the wrong end of the mall surrounded by three guys who followed me from the subway and took my wallet at gun point. I wasn’t injured, destroyed, or sacrificed… but I was the subject of mistreatment and there was a psychological hardship placed on me when I had to take the subway to and from that stop. Still, I do not consider myself a victim of this crime against me.
I do not consider myself a victim because I would not allow myself to be victimized. I still took that same subway to and from school everyday for the rest of the year, and while I would be lying if I said that there was no additional anxiety, I did not let that experience change the way I lived my life. It was a learning experience in both subway safety and in the realization that I am the one who has power over me. It would have been easy to hide myself behind the safety of my locked, chained, and bolted door. It would have been easy to play to poor victim, held up at gunpoint, and never step foot into the subway again. It would have been easy to do that… but by doing that I would have given over to the oppressors more than my money and credit card. I would have given them my belief that humanity, in all its shapes and forms, have good intentions at heart. I would have turned over my compassion and my ability to care for others, which comes in quite handy considering my profession today. I would have denied myself the enjoyment of the diversity that the city, and the world, has to offer.
These very things are what I cherish today… and I have no intention of either becoming, or convinced through paranoia, that I am a victim by either a corporate monger practicing in the feeding frenzy of commercialism or by someone who intended only good wishes in their own way. I am not just another victim… because I choose not to be.
Now I realize that not everyone thinks along the same lines as I do… and there really is nothing wrong with that. It’s just a different perspective, and that’s really okay. So do you think you are a victim? What are you a victim of?
