Very similar to Nietzsche's slave morality, 6 the victim morality is the one that comes from being a victim and thus having no possibility whatsoever to improve your life. From that point of view, you are more virtuous because you are weaker and have no say in your life situation, whereas people with agency and power could change the world for the better but don't, so that makes them corrupt, bad, etc.
Another way to say it is that the victim morality deems someone as good or bad based on how much of their agency they are using to improve the world as a whole. If you have no ability to do that, then you are good because you are technically “doing your best” within your heavy constraints, but if you have resources, connections, skills, etc. but aren't using them to the fullest, then clearly there is something wrong with you, according to the victim morality.
Needless to say, I think it is a very toxic view. While corrupt people definitely exist, problems in society are more so structural and far more complex than how we tend to think of them. It is not as simple as “rich person could pour money to magically fix things”. The reality is that those with the victim morality often want power just as much as those who have it, but they simply don't have what it takes to acquire it, or the guts to admit that it is what they want. They construct their morality based on what reduces their cognitive dissonance, not based on what is true. Speaking of which.
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2024-08-05