By Andrew Klein
One of the most dangerous, evil myths permeating western culture is the idea that good things happen to good people and bad shit happens to bad people. This mindset is rarely questioned; it’s become an integral part of the western world view.
Hand in hand with the callous indifference created by the neoliberal philosophy and the fiction of the free market bringing about ‘good’ outcomes, it is a simpletons view of the world that ignores the influences of state and non-state actors who actively engineer social outcomes.
The moment we see a disadvantaged individual, a homeless individual for example, there are plenty who immediately assume that the individual has failed, is flawed and was an active agent in their own suffering and disadvantage. With the ‘you must have done something to deserve this’ attitude, the observer moves on not questioning the factors involved. They can be dismissed.
Gaza and the ongoing slaughter of countless innocent and the failure of the west to take steps to end the slaughter and encourage steps that would benefit both sides in the long term is an example.
The suffering, the ongoing slaughter is dismissed out of hand. They, the obviously very different, must have done something to deserve it, and the butchery continues.
Careful examination of history and current political events are avoided. They ‘must have done something to deserve it’ is fed by crafted misinformation and lack of context. That none of this would be possible without the support of western powers is ignored. Political ideology and religious history are conflated and brutal partisanship is enforced.
It speaks to the cognitive dissonance created in the west; it may even speak to the level of violence we see in our own communities: The victims of domestic violence, the number of women killed whilst in relationships. The historic treatment of rape victims.
The victim is used to re-enforce the dangerous myth. The victim must have contributed to their own demise or suffering.
If you can look at any victim, the mutilated bodies or the homeless and food insecure in our own country or any other, and snub them because “bad shit happens to bad people”, then you are complicit in perpetuating this evil myth.
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