Hello Louise Cosper
Welcome to Destee.
This topic being about Black people playing ( feeling like ) the victim in America and from your postings. You seem to be stating our young people are being taught to be, and play the victim. Am I wrong in that analogy?
"A victim mentality is one where it is always someone else's fault for bad things happening to you. Further than this, it can be an expectation that things will go wrong, because `bad things always happen to me'. A victim blames others for their circumstances - when something happens, they don't take responsibility for their actions."
I have a few questions. Do you have children? I have two and I raised them to take responsibility, for their actions. As well as hold others accountable for theirs. They both finished college and now are working in their filed of study. They now see that there are road blocks to advancement, and a mentality of some departments ( people, managers ) to block advancement as stated by my daughter. They don't want to loose someone that knows the position she is in, because it was hard to fill. So she is looking to leave the organization. ( It is about up or out ) as I taught them. If someone keeps you from moving up, in a company. Then seek upward mobility with another. That company not only losses you, they loose a good worker. In my entire life I have never seen a black person not justified in speaking up about an actual wrong. What the argument is, some people violate others constantly and those people don't want to be called out or told that they are wrong or have stepped into someone else's business and should not have.
The man who spoke to those teens and told them to stop smoking stepped into someone else's, business. How they wanted to be, live or otherwise. He probably meant no harm. I know others like him that feel they should go around telling young men and others to pull up their pants, stop this or stop that. This person has been warned for years to stop doing that. She had raised he own properly to be respectful, and many others have as well. Free will and social influence in many cases changes what we teach our children. Many children have become followers instead of leaders. Wanting to fit in, ( go along to get along and be accepted ) and doing what everyone else is doing. I taught mine not to be that kind of victim.
Share any solutions, work you may have done are were involved in. Related to the social ( disrespect ) or victim mentality that is concerning.
Attached is a Quiz / Test listed online that supposed to categorize to the taker weather they are lost within a victim mentality. I took it twice. I scored both times a (-4) negative four. The test criteria is the higher the number above zero I presume you score lets you know you may have some victim mentality issues.
When I blame someone for something against me they did. I blame the correct responsible person, not taking a societal view but the actual person responsible for betraying me, setting me up, cheating me etc... and I let them know it is unacceptable, and will not happen again. I live with my set-backs and make sure they don't happen again especially as bad if they happen to still not pan out. ( All plans will not ripen to fruition ) even well laid plans.
I don't have a victim mentality at all. What I find is some people are good at shifting the blame, back onto the victim in a way. Twisting the issue and truth of what really is taking place or happened.