Victim Blaming

With my birthday being this past Monday, and me turning another year older, I'd like to think some positives have come with another year of experiences.  But you can never tell right away.  Like many things in life, these things take time.  But one thing that has come with me being another year older is my awareness of what's going on in the world.  Lately, it seems like everyday there is something going on in the news about something happening to a person, like the woman who died posting a Facebook status while driving, or people committing a crime that they expect people to sympathize with.  It's something that I've thought about more since in my summer classes, they've repeatedly asked if we should blame the victim, which is a slippery slope in itself because if I've learned anything, it's that society blames the victim too much and doesn't focus enough on the offender.  But to leave out any blame for the victim would be ignorant, so it's something that I've thought long and hard about.

After reviewing everything over, I do believe that victims deserve some of the blame for their actions if they live a lifestyle that is high risk or just do something stupid.  For example, if they drink or party constantly, I won't feel sorry for them if something bad happens to them.  Even the woman who died posting that status to Facebook, I don't feel sorry for her because she did something stupid.  Is it sad someone died?  Yes, but it's even sadder that her death could have been prevented if she had just been smarter.  It might sounds harsh what I'm saying, but being harsh and stern is the only way to get through to a person sometimes.

A situation where I don't think a victim can be blamed is provoking somebody.  You hear about this all the time with sports fans, or women who dress too provocatively, but situations like that are too random and hard to predict.  And we all have situations like that when that happens, so I don't think we can blame the victim.  It doesn't seem fair, and in the case of women, it sets a double standard.

Of course, in some ways, even I admit to being hypocritical because if something terrible happened to one of my friends or someone I loved, I wouldn't want that.  But I'd like to think they're good people, who make sound decisions, and are smart in how they handle things.  When it comes to things like I see going on in the world, I don't feel sorry for people because they should know better.  Like I said, I may sounds harsh, but I doubt anyone would feel sorry for me, so why should I for them?  Victims have situations where they should be blamed, but that shouldn't always be the case, especially if you don't know the situation.  Know the facts before you pass judgment.