Discussion of  http://www.zurinstitute.com/victimhood.html  
   "Psychology of Victimhood, Don't Blame the Victim, Article by Ofer Zur, Ph.D."
on 11/2/17 11:43 - 11/3/17 

(Some thoughts I shared with Jonathan Speak in Facebook Messenger)

A discussion of entitlement, happiness, victimhood:  (quoting the web-page)

" Unlike the Buddhist acceptance of evil, inequality, and hierarchy, Western culture, and particularly North American culture, has evolved notions about the individual's freedom to choose, the immoral nature of social inequality, and the inalienable right of each person to pursue happiness. Within this cultural psychology, and specifically in psychotherapy, lies a belief in people's inherent ability to change themselves and their environment. Violence and victimhood, like evil and inequality, must be fought and eradicated. Accordingly, when violence occurs and victims suffer, or when inequalities exist, it is interpreted not as an act of God or a manifestation of karma, but as a failure that must be corrected. This view of 'failure' readily leads to victimhood and blame.

"Americans, unlike Far-Easterners, Middle-Easterners, or Russians, expect things to turn out well. The constitutional promise to all Americans that they have the right to the pursuit of happiness gives rise to the expectation that Americans are supposed to feel happy. Not feeling happy indicates some sort of failure. The victim says "it is definitely not my fault." "

The author of this work seems to think that this American ideal of pursuing and expecting happiness would be unrealistic if only we Americans adopted other worldviews that accept that hegemony or power structures are going to exist and we just gotta deal with them....

Yet I feel that hoping for and expecting the best possible results, working with what we have realistically to have ourselves and have to give to others -- that we can evolve a society of better fairness and ability to fulfill one another's dreams and hopes and aspirations....

We can approach the world acknowledging that it indeed is an ugly place and has only limited potential to be good or fair to most people .... or we can approach the world with a more positive outlook that it contains unlimited potential for people to grow and to achieve their dreams, if we only but (all?) work to help the other out in so achieving . . . .

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Are we in a world with an economy of scarcity of resources, not enough food to feed everyone, not enough homes can be built to house everyone?  Or do we indeed have an economy of abundance, whereby we have all the supplies and work needed to be providing to everyone else the gifts we ourselves enjoy?

I think the whole of it depends fully upon how selfish each individual wishes to be with the things they own.  It is up to each individual to decide how much of their abundance (or lack of it) to share with others so as to help everyone have what they need or want in their lives.  Laziness?  Indeed!  We all want to have what we possess and say, "I worked hard for this to earn it, and because Joe over there didn't work hard like I did to get what I have, he doesn't deserve any part of it!"  What would our world look like if parents said that about their newborn?  "This baby didn't work for its food, so it doesn't get any!"