The Race For Victimhood

With the contruction of the The Canadian Museum for Human Rights underway, controversy has already begun. We should have seen this coming:

Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada, was worried gay and lesbian human rights would be ignored because the group was "totally omitted" from the museum's promotional materials.

(Helen Kennedy and Egale, you'll recall, were the ones who objected to Hockey Night in Canada airing the term "pansification" that Mike Milbury used to describe new anti-fighting initiatives. It was considered homophobic. Appallingly, HNIC caved in and Milbury is not allowed to use the word anymore. This gives you an idea of the kind of people we're dealing with.)

There were more groups lining up for victimhood as well.

"It needs to be inclusive and equitable. If it focuses disproportionate attention to some cases over other cases, then what it is actually teaching us is that there is a hierarchy of human suffering, and that some human suffering is more important than other cases of human suffering; and on that basis, the museum would not be teaching us anything about human rights, it would be teaching us about racism," Kafieh said.

It's the Oprahfication of our culture. It's a contest between groups for who is the biggest victim. The prize for victimhood is political capital.

Fantasy Victim

I’ve been watching some sports news and now I’m watching Jay Leno and he has Cuba Gooding Jr. as a guest. Jay is asking Cuba how he feels about being an African-American with Obama being elected. As with the sports shows, he gets to talk about the struggle, how he never saw it happening, etc.

So I thought I’d imagine an interview with me, if some other middle class, white, schmuck from Nepean, Ontario, was elected Prime Minister of Canada (we’ll call him John Jones).

Here’s the interview:

Jay Leno (JL): So Sea Salt, tell me how you feel about John Jones being elected Prime Minister of Canada.

Sea Salt (SS): Jay, tears were pouring from my eyes. I phoned my father and he was choking up. Dad, I said, let it go, man. (Hold up hand, emotion taking over.)

JL: When you were accepted at Carleton University, mocked as “Last Chance U” did you ever think you’d see a fellow alumni at 22 Sussex?

SS: Not only did he go to Carleton like me, but also lived at home with his parents while he got his degree. He had to battle this stigma. People treat you as less than human. (Hand up, tears again)

JL: Gosh. Times were tough back then.

SS: A girl would say, where do you live? I’d say west of here. She’d say, where specifically? I’d say, the suburbs. She’d say, why is a 21 year old living in the suburbs? And then came the killer line. Wait, you live with your mom don’t you? Yes, and I watch Star Trek dammit!

JL: It’s like you were less than human.

SS: I’ll confess, sometimes, I just hated who I was. Why does this repressive majority with their rich parents and student loans get to live in cool places downtown, while I was barred and stigmatized.

JL: Jones’s victory speech?

SS: My heart filled with hope, when he said: “This is a great country when a plain featured white guy, educated in the streets of Trend Village, in Nepean, Ontario can grow up to be Prime Minister one day.”

JL: It’s not only what he says, it’s the way he says it, isn’t it? That line gave me chills.

SS: I’ve lived my whole life to hear it.

JL: Nepean doesn’t even exist anymore does it?

SS: That dark chapter was closed with the City of Ottawa Amalgamation. One hundred years from now, they probably won’t even know what went on there. The name may have changed, but the scars never heal.