On 10 Dec 2013, at 05:11, Boris Liberman <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On 12/9/2013 9:56 PM, Bob W wrote: >> That is a recipe for victimhood. It's analogous to telling women not >> to use the subway, or not to go out after dark. In other words, give >> in to bullies rather than stand up for what's right, even at some >> cost to yourself. > > Do I understand you correctly, Bob, that in fact there is a cost/benefit > consideration here? I mean - in real life, not some idealized world. >
No, you don't. I say that you should not put yourself in the position of a victim, and that standing up for yourself may have a cost, but you should pay it. In the case of say women being told not to go out after dark, this was resolved, at least in London in the 80s, by a movement called Reclaim the Streets, in which people banded together do exactly that. So refusing to be a victim does not have to be something one does on one's own at huge personal risk, but something that people join together to do. This way you can be both right and wise. I went to a boarding school from the age of 11 to 18. In the first week the older boys tried to bully me and the other new boys. I had conscientiously read my Billy Bunter books before starting school, so I knew the correct protocols. I joined together with one or two of the other boys and we beat up one of the bullies and threw him into a rose bush. We then took a one-off punishment beating, but were never bullied after that. Some of the other new boys automatically adopted a victim position, were bullied forever more and had a bloody miserable time. B -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
