The Excitement and Peril of Victims

Ever watch a fascinating TV series, or a great movie. Odds are that amongst the many hours of entertainment available, the recurring theme, that which excites you, is a victim overcoming the odds. Keeping things on topic, I want to address the blogs that have been writing about the victim-dilemma in China. The victim-dilemma is a common statement that the Chinese people prefer to feel victimized.

I think it all goes back to political dissent. The story begins with some controversy, so and so government oppressed so and so people; so and so people rejected the oppression and sought reform; reform did not resolve underlying issues; so and so people feel victimized, even when they are not.

A better explanation of the truth: people accomplish more when they are motivated. When scorned by love, oppressed by power, or prevented by nature, we strive to overcome that. When there is no oppression or force preventing us, we find ourselves accomplishing more. What alarms me about these Blogger statements about the Chinese is that I find the Chinese People surprisingly honest, straightforward, self-motivated, and having a can-do attitude. Where does victimization fit in? A new drug?

I could explain it complexly and align it with the truth, but instead I will rely on the crutch of simile. I liken the push towards victimization to steroids in the Major League Baseball world. One player gets an edge by using them, then another, and then another. The ones who don't use them lose a competitive advantage, and feel victimized. It is a disssater of a comparison. In truth the drug is victimization, of a particular sort. The people who do not use victimization as a motivator, then begin to feel victimized, and in turn succomb to the global norm. World Leaders often appeal to this weak spot for victims. They make themselves and their states appear to be victims of darker larger powers. The only real way to defeat the cry of the false victim is to either make the victimization more real (teaching the would be victim the error of their ways: which rarely yields any sympathy for the actor), or to become a victim. In the major leagues, the true victims (the non-steroid users) chose to make the steroid users victimization feel more real. Consequently the hearings against famous ball players has commenced, and they are revealing their motivations in cloaked truths. The would be victims (non-users) took action, and the original actors (Roger Clemmens), are falling from fame into infamy, along with those who followed suit. Are the Chinese following suit to France, America, Africa....?

The Chinese are surprisingly resilient to real victimization. They rarely strike out. They rarely take action into their own hands before the forces of nature and time do. They have a way of letting things pan out on their own. I like to think of it as some ancient Existentialism. Nature is so much more mightly than we, and thus nature will always right the wrongs.

So where do the Olympics, Tibet, Taiwan, and alleged human rights fit in. These are all efforts to stem the growing global movement towards victimization. The arrogance of performance enbhancing drugs, and likely victim mongers, will not infect China; the Chinese are far to mired in the depths of the reality of life to tempt fate in that way. But I do see the influence of the Western obsession with victims peeping around the corner, and the youth are definitely curious.

I was surprised and elated to find out that top student is going to remain in China, perhaps become a Chinese lawyer. He will still venture to America for a taste of the brave new world, but only a taste, and then back to reality. Nature has a way of overcoming nurture, and I for one, find the omen of the harsh reality of mother nature far exceeding the bemoaning cry for more nurturing in the call of victim mongers.

Communism is an old theory, older than democracy, and deeper than we Westerners are taught. Does it live up to the myth of oppression and fear: no, it does not. It stands alone, with solice, braving the undertow of the great retreating tide of money fed victimization, and I think it is not long for shore.