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| A Nation of Victims | | Date Created: Sep 03, 2006, 12:52 PM |
 I've promised to quote from this book and I can't move on without at least putting in a plug for it. I've wanted to write a book to show how victimology explains just about everything on the US political scene but to a large extent Charles J. Sykes has already done it and his book is already 14 years old. A Nation of Victims - The Decay of the American Character is the definitive word on any number of threads discussed on political blogs and listserves. I was going to quote extensively from the book on each of these subjects including ones showing that PC (politically correct) is indeed an outgrowth of liberal dogma from the 60's, why liberal treatment of race issues is inherently racist and self-serving, why governments can't work better than the collective power of individuals, why the use of government power is inherently politicized and easily manipulated by victim-thinking, the victimization of feminist issues and marxist ideology, how plaintiff attorneys are abusing government power and victimology, and even how constantly complaining about the government is a form of victim-thinking. How can you beat that?
The choice of the subtitle "Decay of the American Character" is unfortunate as this makes it sounds like a right-wing religious polemic. There is discussion of moral character but not from a religious standpoint. It's very much about individual character and the absence of victim-thinking rather than religious morals. In a sense, most religions including christianity make people feel like victims and dependent on God's grace or redemption. Sykes isn't into substituting one form of victim-thinking for another.
Interestingly, Sykes doesn't use the term "victimology" so I've still got a shot at writing a book with a unique hook. Sykes prefers the term "victimization" which is the process rather than the "study of" that victimology implies. He also has other terms for PC including: "ideologically approved", "Big Nanny", "therapeutic politics", and "comparative victimhood."
One major issue I'm interested in that Sykes addresses is how the primitive sciences of economics (Marx) and psychiatry (Freud) have been politicized and abused by victimologists. Evolutionary science got started around the same time but had its scientific basis expanded and solidified and has been more successful in shaking off politicized uses even though they've been there and continue to be a threat. After the book on Victimology it will be on to Politicized Science for me.
I'd even send my copy to anyone interested except that it's all marked up. If I quoted from it it would be half the book. Some of it is available for perusing on Amazon.com's "Search Inside" feature. You will also find used copies available for $0.75
I encourage anyone interested enough to follow political issues to check out this book.
A Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character
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