[Ads-l] Victimhood Olympics

[Indigo Som]

This sounds to me like a conservative appropriation of in-house lefty "Oppression Olympics" --  similar to how lefty tongue-in-cheek "politically correct" was appropriated. I remember "Oppression Olympics" from the late 80s (at UC Berkeley specifically, but I'm pretty sure it was widespread amongst the college lefty crowd); it came up in pleas for what we now call intersectionality (perfectly captured in the book title "All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some Of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies"). Also whenever people were tempted to "compare oppressions" e.g. between different groups of people of color. "This isn't the Oppression Olympics" was a common reminder.

Sigh. We lefties can never laugh at ourselves or employ ironic self-deprecation without it being turned against us ;)

Anyway, Oppression Olympics has such a nice assonance that Victimhood Olympics can never have... 

</de-lurk>
Indigo Som

On 8 Dec 2015, at 9:00 PM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:

> From: Brian Hitchcock <brianhi at SKECHERS.COM>
> Date: 8 December 2015 5:54:33 PM PST
> Subject: Victimhood Olympics
> 
> 
> Am I the only one who hasn't heard of the Victimhood Olympics? How long has this been around?
> 
> I see it occurs in the book Victims and Victimhood, by Trudy Govier, published in 2015.
> 
> https://books.google.com/books?id=dOCbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60&dq=victimhood+olympics&source=bl&ots=iIs0wDE_Rn&sig=6vmg61WCF_asUzbp1Pyo1g_AvTY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCvLif0s3JAhUIzmMKHboGDa0Q6AEITTAH#v=onepage&q=victimhood%20olympics&f=false
> 
> It doesn't occur in Google ngram viewer. Online, the oldest mention I found was from Jun 26, 2014:
> http://www.goingyourownway.com/mgtow-lounge-deprecated/victimhood-olympics-modern-workplace-2153/
> 
> Antedating is invited; this seems recent enough that there might be an identifiable coiner.


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