White men are under attack from every angle within the 7 Belief systems: Love (eg, #MeToo), Money (eg, gender pay gap, male over-representation), Philosophy (eg, slavery, white supremacy), Politics (eg, male over-representation), Religion (eg, sexual abuse), Science (eg, male over-representation), and the Truth (eg, mansplaining).
Some of these white men are using the media claiming that white men have become the scapegoat and victim within – still predominantly white – societies. This claim may indeed be appealing to white men. At times, I also feel annoyed by these attacks on a rather heterogeneous group. Ignoring such attacks solves most of my annoyance.
Clearly, men have been in power for millennia and white men for many centuries. In 1887, Lord Acton stated: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”. It’s almost a miracle that the situation isn’t far worse than it is. Probably, it’s because behind every great man, there’s a great woman (eg, mother, wife, daughter).
I’m reluctant in accepting any victim role because once you’re in, it becomes difficult escaping. Furthermore, I don’t believe in victim roles because these people always blame other people, and lack any self accountability and self responsibility. I like to see myself as a survivor, the opposite of a victim (eg, the road to recovery from a burnout and depression).
In each bad situation, I first look at my own accountability and responsibility – for my deeds, words and intentions. Am I to blame for a bad situation? Could I have done things differently? The answer is not always a “yes” but still too often. At least, my conclusion mirrors an ancient Dutch saying: where two people fight, both are to blame.
Talents are not spread equally over humans. Hence, people are never really “equal”. Being equal for the law, doesn’t improve your chances when it comes to talents. The same applies to risk-taking and risk aversion. Men are risk-takers, sometimes even daredevils. Hence, men are often entrepreneurs. Risk-taking combined with talent is a recipe for success.
The pitfall for men is a lack of self-acceptance over their (male) identity, and a lack of self-doubt. Men are great pretenders (lyrics, video, Wiki). When men fall, they fall hard and deep. For other men it’s like: the king is dead, long live the king! Their rat race just lost a competitor and the show must go on (lyrics, video, Wiki).
Pushing men into assuming victim roles may however be worse than the original problem. For thousands of years, men have learned working well together. A collective victim role is bound to result into some kind of collective retaliation. Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion states: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction (source).
Safe from Harm (1991) by Massive Attack
artists, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
But if you hurt what’s mine
I’ll sure as hell retaliate
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise
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