EDITOR’S NOTE: I added the definition below and posted the video of Larry Elder and Candice Owens. Larry has often used the term ‘Victicrat.’
Not so long ago, etiquette was easy: Emily Post, in books and newspaper columns told us how to act and what to say, how not to act and what not to say. When we asked “why,” the response was invariably, “It just is, or isn’t, done that way.”
In fact, most of the problems were about things most of us would never deal with: what do we do with the four spoons, two forks and three knives at a “proper” table setting?
The Urban Dictionary describes ‘Victicrat’ as someone who believes every negative situation in their life is brought on because of their race. -Someone who utilizes “the race card” as grounds for argument/ defense/offense in any situation applicable.
Then along came the Internet, and something called “netiquette” developed. We quickly learned how irony often doesn’t work in e-mail, there is almost no way to use, and decipher, body language, and perhaps most importantly, if there is a way for our communication to be misunderstood, someone will take it the wrong way.
Now, combine social media with a group of people I call “victicrats,” and you have a recipe for disaster. Victicrats are professional victims; people who actually go out of their way to find a reason to be offended. These people will deliberately interpret a message, not in the way it was intended, but in a way they claim offends them.
So I have to wonder if these folks aren’t just seeking attention for themselves. Are they so needy they have to say they are offended so someone else will say, “Oh, poor baby, you must feel awful. Let me pay attention to you so you will feel better.”
There is, in fact, a real mental illness called Munchausen syndrome, whereby someone fakes or exaggerates some kind of trauma in order to draw attention to themselves.
So if the arbiters of the new social media etiquette are telling us how to be careful about what we say in e-mails and social media, here’s something to think about: the people who are telling us they are offended by our messages, aren’t they be offensive and inconsiderate and rude in making us feel badly?
And since apparently there is nothing in this world that won’t offend someone, pretty soon we won’t be able to say anything at all. And I guess that will ultimately solve the problem.
…I’m Larry Burriss .
