Just wondering: is it true that victims can never be victimisers?

Question

Discuss.

What about an ageist, sexist male belonging to a racial minority group?

Thanks, I agree: "Nor does being a member of an ethnic minority and a victim of racism exempt one from being sexist."

But what about ageist? That's the lesser of 3 evils?

'thisisme' - thanks for cheering me right up with that delightful little story. I can sleep peacefully tonight.

Gnu - I'm hardly "putting words into your mouth" -rather, I am attempting to illustrate a point: the absence of 'ageism' as a 'sin' suggests that ageism is pretty much...acceptable. The word 'ageism' - to me - is conspicuous by its very absence. I'm not suggesting you are the only one who doesn't think of ageism as being a form of discrimination. You are in very good company, I'm sure.

Notice that I haven't blocked you - as you have blocked me. Notice that I permit you to speak your mind openly.

Gnu - lets try to keep the lying down to a minimum: you have ALWAYS blocked me whereas I have NEVER blocked you. Here's a recent post of yours:

"For the record, only one person replying to this question SHOULD be blocked (and she knows who she is and I am not going to say anything more about that)"
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiF4W5EYEhaBbkDv3o5GqUYYxgt.;_ylv=3?qid=20071030185415AAgwu99

Yes, it is indeed 'for the record' because the question is now closed you can't change your response.

Kate L: "Logically, the answer to your question is in the affirmative; being that victims can be perpetrators...". That's the right answer.

Gnu; evidence you are quite mistaken

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AoXM_YXtKCAVShrI5Zf_jc7sy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071030233846AAv6Jrp

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhvTcaC9l_6uuhNiZIVJo1Tsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071030220203AAV3Akn

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Am0NyyECC2INY7D_3D.CyGTty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071025224317AA0vTWA

'Cheap Shot'? No... I think it hit the bullseye especially in regard to your query: "Do some feminists think they can shame men into finding older women attractive?" What part of this post isn't sexist and isn't ageist?

And your answers - sunk - under an sea of gibberish.

Naaah, I just let you flounder around, drowning a sea of gibberish. You commit other logical fallacies but "argument by gibberish" is clearly a personal favourite of yours.

"Suppose I block you and you never blocked me (which I do not grant). So what?"
OMG - that fits right in with OJ's book "IF I did It" - toooo funny.

Answer 1

Victims can be the worst victimizers. So, of course, yes. What you've described is P.C. Bullshit. The idea that a black person can't be racist, or a woman can't be sexist,.......they can be prejuduced, but not those harsher terms, because they don't have the power to be racist. As if most white males have more "power" than either of these examples. What a load of crap on both counts.

Answer 2

Victims and victimisers. I think they are both one and the same in many instances. Some instances arent, ofc.

One may be more of a perceived victim than an actual victim. Vice versa. But without taking the time to understand and to just retaliate (be that with physical violence or guilt trips or other mind emotion games, yet another arena for violence), will just perpetuate the situation. Some people, ofc just want ot remain in their cycles, others arent aware and dont really want to be doing it, others yet again are conscious and feel a need to be doing what they are doing, and just need to be given an alternative. Im sure there are other possibilities too.

As one said victims are often victimisers - they feel they are victims and thats whats driving them. Whether or not that is justified or not is another question. Whether their choice of response is justified is yet another.

If it were not true that victims can be victimisers - that would make explaining the situations of cyclical retaliation between some countries very difficult to explain, or why some people repeatedly find themselves in abusive relationships.

Granted as the guy at the top said - they shouldnt be able to victimise as they should be more aware of hurt and suffering - on the other hand he would hold a victim to higher moral ground than their victimiser, and deny them their right to defense by that statement. One persons defense is anothers assualt. If your just being defensive, that means the other person is being attacked at worst or blocked at best. Therefore if they can never victimise neither can they defend, for it may result in accidently attacking another. (either as an actual physical or emotional or verbal attack/block)

Therefore someone with a victim mentality, can victimise others, even just with their victimhood.

Just a thought.

Answer 3

Well, would it be fair to say that, ignorance claims victims, and victims becomes victimizers in an unconscious way? Although, ignorance can be corrected, it's when the veil of ignorance becomes so stubborn that it does not lift it's veil to allow change and therefore, the victim will continue to be a victimizer. Even if it's within themselves.

When People have fallen victim to societies cruel ways, the victim becomes blinded, but when they take it out on people, they become victimizers. It's when they allow change to take effect to not be the victim any longer, then the chain of victim/victimiser shall be no longer.

Accepting change is the key. If One cannot accept change from within, then they will never find peace.

Answer 4

It depends on the person. Some people try extra hard not to victimise others, because they know how painful it is and never want anyone to feel that way again. Others might try extra hard to make others feel that pain, as a form of revenge against the world for perceived unjust treatment in the past. Still others might do so because they are unaware that it is wrong, since it was a normal part of their life, or have in some way been damaged by the experience and are unable to control themselves properly.

Answer 5

Each one of us has inner vulnerabilities....something from our past (something that has caused us pain), perhaps, that lingers just above or just below our level of conscious awareness. Sometimes these things surface, and we don't even realize we are being influenced by it. Most of us would like to believe that we have nothing that we haven't completely resolved. We want to believe we are always motivated by enlightened awareness. But sometimes, even the most "healed" of us can have a past issue re-surface. Victims can be victimizers. We are all protective of our inner vulnerabilities, and we try not to let anyone hurt us. But sometimes, one just-right "wrong" word or thought directed toward us can trigger an old memory, or rekindle a flame we thought we'd extinguished for good. And sometimes, because of this, we may over-react to a perceived threat that really might not be a threat at all. Everyone is susceptible and everyone is capable of being hurt or hurting others, intentionally or unintentionally. Awareness, sensitivity, compassion, empathy, introspection, understanding and forgiveness are tools we can use to avoid hurting someone else or hurting ourselves.

Answer 6

No its not true not true at all. People who are often abused as children do sometimes victimize others be it a spouse, child or someone else. But its not true of every victim there are some that learn from what they experienced and wouldn't do anything to harm anyone.
I mean look at battered spouses sometimes they get pushed so far that they end up killing their abuser. If there before mentioned was true they couldn't harm the person who was harming them. I know from my past physical abuse from my ex husband that if another man ever laid a hand on me I wouldn't take it I'd fight back harder and it wouldn't be pretty at all.

Answer 7

Nope. Violence is a vicious cycle that runs through generations of families. If you grew up in an abusive situation, you are more likely to abuse. It doesn't always have to be the case. It depends on the person and if they want to make a conscious effort to break the cycle.

Boys are more likely to be abusive to girls. Girls can be the abuser in dating relationships if that is what they grew up seeing. Women tend to be the ones that abuse children more than men. Sometimes children will lash out against sisters/brothers/classmates in response to whatever they are experiencing.
You can't leave out the gay and lesbian community...there have been cases of domestic violence between 2 men or 2 women.

Hate crimes...may lead to retaliation from whatever group was victimized.

Honestly...it depends on the person. Victimizing another human being is a conscious and deliberate decision.

Answer 8

No, it's not true. Some will use being a victim as an excuse to victimize others(like the man/woman haters who hate men/women because of how they were treated, and instead of growing past that, they decide to turn around and treat others how they used to be treated).

Answer 9

No, who said that? In fact, it is more likely a person who was a victim to victimize someone else later in life, especially in sex abuse cases.
Many felons in prison for sex crimes were victims themselves in childhood. One case involved the older brother of a boy who was kidapped and held for seven years as a sex slave to an adult male; when the male abducted another young child, the boy, now seven years older, escaped with the boy and they were rescued. The younger child was, supposedly, OK because he had escaped...the older boy married and had a child while he was still in his teens in a desperate effort to regain a normal life; he was hit by a car and killed a few years later. Meanwhile, the older brother got a job at a resort in Yosemite and he mudered several women, including one he decapitated. His first name is Carey but I forget the last name. He was a victim when his little brother was abducted; he felt horrible that he wasn't there to protect him and it twisted him inside and emerged, years later, in a homicidal frenzy.

Answer 10

Victims often turn into abusers, especially if abused as a child. There are dozens upon dozens of studies that confirm that. Basically, when a child is abused they are not taught how to interact positively with other people and go on to be abusers because that is the only way they know how to deal with situations. Violence begets violence....