David Frum: "Once upon a time, victim status was the reserved property of a few minority groups. No longer! Americans have opened the doors of self-pity to all."

(The article's about Chick-fil-A, but this post isn't.)

Once I thought of writing something about someone who was having a hard time getting to know her neighbors. She imagined how they'd react if she suddenly died, and their dialogue  went something like this:

"None of us actually wanted her to die -- so in  a way, we're all victims."
"I don't self-identify as a victim."
"Hey -- maybe you don't know when you're being victimized, but I know when I'm being victimized."
"When?"

"Whenever anything happens that I don't like."

Then, I think, somebody else was going to suggest starting a support group and the first guy was going to say "Nah, let's party" and music would come from nowhere and they'd all start dancing. That's why I'm writing blog posts instead of great fiction . . .  but yes, the perception is that unhappy = victim. The meaning of victimhood is being diluted, along with the meaning of marriage and maybe even the meaning of homosexuality, if Obama can be called the first that-kind-of President.

It reminds me also of a bored voice coming from behind me in the lineup at the dollar store once. It was directed at the cashier: "Can you call the police? I'm being threatened. She said if my daughter wasn't with me she'd kick my @ss."

(No, I was not the "she" mentioned -- in the unlikely event that I were going to kick someone's butt, I'd just go ahead and do it.)

Unimaginative junior-high boasting of hypothetical catfight = threat.

Unhappy = victim.  
Moderate desire to be publicly acknowledged as a couple -- for now = marriage.