bsdetectrMary

Another way of looking at actions and communications of others and of ourselves.

#blamesvictimThe word ?stray? is often applied to a dog or cat who?s been thrown out of a car, or abandoned when sombody moved. Can you imagine what it must be like to look at a thousand possible rescuers who all pass you by? To smell food but never have anyone give you any? To keep approaching potential rescuers wagging or purring, doing your last-chance best to demonstrate how much love, companionship, and perhaps protection, you could give, and to keep being kicked away? Never to be able to please no matter how hard you try? To have no idea what you have done to be so punished? The word ?stray? blames this agony of body and emotion on the abandoned victim. That B.S. word lets a lot of people turn away from, not even see, agony by saying ?It?s just a stray.? Just another ?statistic.? A thing to label. ?Runaways,? ?juvenile delinquents,? ?homeless? are statistics, not persons like you and me. The sooner we look at individuals, human or animal, and delete all victim-blaming labels, the sooner we?ll stop committing abstraction-based atrocities. Responsibility, vital to all our survival, begins with our individual actions in real territories. Throw out victim-blaming abstractions. Delete labels (so often, the justification for abuse). Next, forget the lousy Sniggling passive voice, another way abuse often is excused. No order ever passive-voice ?was carried out.? Somebody carried it out. No product ever ?was sold.? Somebody sold it. Even in the Garden of Eden, the apple wasn?t passive-voice ?eaten.? Eve and the snake both took action. We do the world a favor and cut through self-blinding B.S. every time we throw out the passive voice and search for the human who dam? well did something. Or failed to. As far as I can observe (and I?ve been looking), we revise our individual views of both ourselves and the world when we dump both labels and the passive voice and go for the active. ? 2013 Mary B. Thompson, B.S. DETECTING

Abuser using derogatory label that lays blame on victim.

Abusers ofen use a label that blames the victim.