victimhood!

What is a victim?

A look at Merriam Webster shows

1 : a living being sacrificed to a deity or in the performance of a religious rite

2 : one that is acted on and usually adversely affected by a force or agent (the schools are victims of the social system): as a (1) : one that is injured, destroyed, or sacrificed under any of various conditions (a victim of cancer) (a victim of the auto crash) (a murder victim)
(2) : one that is subjected to oppression, hardship, or mistreatment (a frequent victim of political attacks) b : one that is tricked or duped (a con man's victim)

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)...

1. A living being sacrificed to some deity, or in the performance of a religious rite; a creature immolated, or made an offering of.

2. A person or thing destroyed or sacrificed in the pursuit of an object, or in gratification of a passion; as, a victim to jealousy, lust, or ambition.

3. A person or living creature destroyed by, or suffering grievous injury from, another, from fortune or from accident; as, the victim of a defaulter; the victim of a railroad accident.

4. Hence, one who is duped, or cheated; a dupe; a gull. [Colloq.]

From WordNet (r) 1.6 (wn)...

1: an unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse circumstance 2: a person who is tricked or swindled [syn: {dupe}]

Now a look at responsible...

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)...

1. Liable to respond; likely to be called upon to answer; accountable; answerable; amenable; as, a guardian is responsible to the court for his conduct in the office.

2. Able to respond or answer for one's conduct and obligations; trustworthy, financially or otherwise; as, to have a responsible man for surety.

3. Involving responsibility; involving a degree of accountability on the part of the person concerned; as, a responsible office.

From WordNet (r) 1.6 (wn)...

1: worthy of or requiring responsibility or trust; or held accountable; "a responsible adult"; "responsible journalism"; "a responsible position"; "the captain is responsible for the ship's safety"; "the cabinet is responsible to the parliament" [ant: {irresponsible}] 2: being the agent or cause; "determined who was the responsible party"; "termites were responsible for the damage" [syn: {responsible for(p)}] 3: having an acceptable credit rating; "a responsible borrower" [syn: {creditworthy}]

Now Responsibility...

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)...

1. The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable, as for a trust, debt, or obligation.

2. That for which anyone is responsible or accountable; as, the resonsibilities of power.

3. Ability to answer in payment; means of paying.

From WordNet (r) 1.6 (wn)...

1: the social force that binds you to your obligations and the courses of action demanded by that force: "we must instill a sense of duty in our children"; "every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty"- John D.Rockefeller Jr [syn: {duty}, {obligation}] 2: the proper sphere or extent of your activities; "it was his province to take care of himself" [syn: {province}] 3: ability or necessity to answer for or be responsible for one's conduct; "he holds a position of great responsibility"; "young children on a farm are often given responsibilities" [syn: {responsibleness}] [ant: {irresponsibility}, {irresponsibility}]

From The Devil's Dictionary...

RESPONSIBILITY, n. A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one's neighbor. In the days of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star.

Sandy, you wrote...

> Based on that definition how many have ever
> been victims or are victims of something?

> you might
> be a victim and not even know it....

Sandy, I placed the meanings of victim and responsible so they could be compared. And I've also sniped a bit of your post to address it.

The thing that grabbed me most about your post was
"you might be a victim and not even know it."

It is precisely that type of thinking that has our societies filled with Do Gooders.

In the past, someone would make a bad decision and suffer the consequences of that decisions. They made their bed they lay in it.

But now...

It's not your fault... you're a victim... and you might not even know it.

Next step...

Lets go looking for all these people who don't know they're victims and help them.

Suddenly we end up with eveyone being a victim. And it's certainly welcoming for them as it means they can shift responsiblity onto anything other than themselves.

Suddenly, the decision they made wasn't bad... they were duped, or tricked, or taken advantage of, or whatever. But regardless... it's never their fault.

And yet, they were the ones who chose to do the deal, buy the product, spend their money, invest their time or what have you.

They chose to act. No one held a gun to their head and threatened them. (again, I know the knit pickers will come out in force and pick and chose some obscure examples of some kind).

An interesting point was made further down the board about saying "I am responsible" even if you're cut off in traffic.

I'd like to point out... you are responsible if you get cut off in traffic.

You chose to get into your car and drive. You chose to take the route you did. You chose to leave at the time you left. You chose to drive at the speeds you drove at to arrive at the cut off point. You chose to do all of those things. If you'd chosen to drive slower or faster or go via a different route or leave later or sooner, that cut off would not have happened as it did.

I've been involved in one car accident with me behind the wheel...

I was waiting in a line of traffic to turn onto a road. My entry point was governed by a STOP sign.

I'm one of those rare people that actually stops at stop signs.

So the cars in front of me move off and I move to the stop line to stop and make sure the road is clear.

As I was stopped and watching and waiting for the approaching car to pass I was sudenly thrust into the middle of the intersection. I'd been hit from behind.

Whose fault?

If we break it down we see something interesting.

From my point of view... I chose to be on the road at that time of day. I chose to go the route I went. I chose to obey the stop sign and stop. I chose to place myself at the scene of the accident. No one made me do any of those things. I take full responsibility for all of my actions. I placed myself at the accident's time and location.

The driver behind me also made choices. He chose to also be on that road at that time. He chose to not look. He chose to plant his foot and smash into the back of my car.

But, had I not been there, he wouldn't have hit me.

According to our road rules, he was in the wrong and his license took a hit accordingly.

But we are both responsible for our respective actions.

If you consider the accident a certainty, then my being hit is all my fault as I chose to do everything which put me at the accident place at the right time.

After the accident I was without a car for several days as they put it on "the rack" to straighten the chassis and repair the damage - the whole back end.

The other driver was also without a car after as his front end made his car unable to be driven.

Such was the force he hit me with.

The funny thing is, we were both calm about it.

We stood on the side of the road talking and waiting for the tow trucks and police and just chatted about stuff - what we both did for a living, sports, etc.

After that incident I vowed NEVER to be involved in an accident again. And I never have been. That was my first and only one. And there's something else interesting about it...

I had been thinking, about a minute before, "I've never been involved in a car accident, I wonder what it's like".

It didn't take me long to find out.

A hint at a future event?

Maybe.

I believe the statistics show that flight cancellations are largest for flights that end up crashing.

Does each person have a hint of that future event (bad feeling about the flight) though only some cancel their flights?

Certainly a metaphysical thing that.

Back to your point "you may be a victim and not even know it..."

Keep thinking that way and a person ends up looking for victim status.

How many times have I been a victim... let me count the ways...

In depends on your point of view...

If you're a victim everything is someone else's fault and you look for ways to make it so. Maybe to make yourself feel better.

It's far easier to blame someone else than to accept that maybe you've been an ass about something or made a wrong choice.

Gordon mentions looking at your past choices. Notice he doesn't say look at the times in the past you've been a victim?

Michael Ross.