Paul A. Ibbetson
The Ibbetson WrightRoad Victimization Index
By Paul A. Ibbetson
Turn on the television, switch on the radio, or open a magazine, and you are likely to hear a discussion on the continual victimization of one group or another based on race, religion, or gender at the very least. Centered within this narrative are the power-wielders with their thirst for absolute control, and the helpless victims that must continually gasp for air under the boot of domination. The Ibbetson WrightRoad Victimization Index offers an easy-to-understand guide to what happens when one group interacts with another, as well as a no-nonsense evaluation of how victimization works in the modern society.
The victimization index owes its conception to the work of Houston radio talk show hosts Damon Rexroad and James Wright (www.conservativefunhouse.com.) Pondering the ramifications of interracial violence, they came up with a numerical system of understanding whether society would react with praise or punishment to an act of violence based on factors such as race, gender, religious/political affiliation, etc. I have been graciously allowed to extend and develop the theoretical foundations of this unique concept. Before we observe and apply the victimization index, it is important to understand how victimization has come to be applied in this country.
America is a very compassionate country. The United States has traditionally been marked by the unique spirit that includes a tendency to root for the underdog, naturally supporting the victims of oppression, against those who would look to dominate a lesser group or individual for their own self-seeking purposes. After all, the story of the throwing off of oppression is truly an American tale in itself. However, the American perspective on victimization versus the modern liberal highlights vast differences in perception. The founders of this country would have seen their position as victims of England's oppression as a short-lived situation they would resolve, and not a life-long label to gain power through manipulation.
Unfortunately, the term victim today has been hijacked, and its true meaning altered from a descriptor of the oppressed to a label often used by counter culture, anti-biblical, special interest, and anti-American groups. The word itself — victim — now carries less of a connotation of helplessness and need for assistance, and is more often used to describe a position of power through entitlement. In this liberal scheme, the majority progressively becomes ruled by the minority. In short, to be labeled a member of a victimized group is to gain massive formal and informal power. The victimization index allows both for both positive and negative consequences. Formal consequences include the presence (or lack) of fines and prison sentences, and informal consequences can come from news articles, television stories, reactions from family and friends, etc.
The victimization index is a numerical reflection of the modern liberal narrative of the most oppressed to the least oppressed and goes as follows:
Let's go the other way, Barack Obama, black male (3), disparages a Cambridge police officer, white male (9) with abusing his authority against a minority professor at a university. Here the math is 3-9=-6. Note we are over half way up the positive consequences scale. So, Obama does not receive the Nobel Peace Prize for falsely injecting racial conflict, but instead is allowed to have a beer-summit with all parties involved at the White House and is later described as a grand peacemaker. Conversely, Joe "the plumber," white male (9), asks then candidate Barack Obama, black male (3), on the campaign trail a question about business taxes and a much different situation occurs. Sorry Joe, but 9-3=+6 and it's time to turn your life upside down. When liberal activist Jeanine Garofalo accuses Rush Limbaugh of being the spiritual leader of a racist tea-bagger movement, no matter how you do the math (white female to conservative 6-10=-4 or lesbian to conservative 2-10=-8), Garofalo is guaranteed book deals and TV show appearance invitations. As a person begins to fully comprehend the victimization index, it becomes easier to answer questions of how an identified radical Muslin, like U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, could continue to operate despite sending red flags to so many people in the military. It is not that Hasan adeptly fooled onlookers, it's that few were in a rush to face the consequences of testing the index's outer limits of being a white male or conservative to point the finger at today's victim "king" in the Muslim male (10-1=+9 or 9-1=+8).
The simple truth, is you can do this all day with the same outcome; the numbers just don't lie. The lowest rung on the index is the conservative (10), and it is important to note that all identity, (race, sex, religion, etc.) is taken away from this person. To be a conservative in the modern world of liberal victimization is to be all but faceless. The Ibbetson WrightRoad Victimization Index is not meant to provoke, rather to describe the world as it currently exists. As important as this current reality is the evidence that this index is in continual flux. If society has the capability to alter our conception of victimization then it must be possible, it must be within our ability to lift triumph over victimization, and success over failure. I not only believe Americans can do this, but I also see it as in our true nature to do so. These are the numbers I would prefer to add up in our country's future.
© Paul A. Ibbetson
December 31, 2009
Turn on the television, switch on the radio, or open a magazine, and you are likely to hear a discussion on the continual victimization of one group or another based on race, religion, or gender at the very least. Centered within this narrative are the power-wielders with their thirst for absolute control, and the helpless victims that must continually gasp for air under the boot of domination. The Ibbetson WrightRoad Victimization Index offers an easy-to-understand guide to what happens when one group interacts with another, as well as a no-nonsense evaluation of how victimization works in the modern society.
The victimization index owes its conception to the work of Houston radio talk show hosts Damon Rexroad and James Wright (www.conservativefunhouse.com.) Pondering the ramifications of interracial violence, they came up with a numerical system of understanding whether society would react with praise or punishment to an act of violence based on factors such as race, gender, religious/political affiliation, etc. I have been graciously allowed to extend and develop the theoretical foundations of this unique concept. Before we observe and apply the victimization index, it is important to understand how victimization has come to be applied in this country.
America is a very compassionate country. The United States has traditionally been marked by the unique spirit that includes a tendency to root for the underdog, naturally supporting the victims of oppression, against those who would look to dominate a lesser group or individual for their own self-seeking purposes. After all, the story of the throwing off of oppression is truly an American tale in itself. However, the American perspective on victimization versus the modern liberal highlights vast differences in perception. The founders of this country would have seen their position as victims of England's oppression as a short-lived situation they would resolve, and not a life-long label to gain power through manipulation.
Unfortunately, the term victim today has been hijacked, and its true meaning altered from a descriptor of the oppressed to a label often used by counter culture, anti-biblical, special interest, and anti-American groups. The word itself — victim — now carries less of a connotation of helplessness and need for assistance, and is more often used to describe a position of power through entitlement. In this liberal scheme, the majority progressively becomes ruled by the minority. In short, to be labeled a member of a victimized group is to gain massive formal and informal power. The victimization index allows both for both positive and negative consequences. Formal consequences include the presence (or lack) of fines and prison sentences, and informal consequences can come from news articles, television stories, reactions from family and friends, etc.
The victimization index is a numerical reflection of the modern liberal narrative of the most oppressed to the least oppressed and goes as follows:
- Muslim Male
- Gay/Lesbian
- Black Male
- Black Female
- Hispanic Male
- White Female
- Hispanic Female
- Muslim Female
- White Male
- Conservative
Let's go the other way, Barack Obama, black male (3), disparages a Cambridge police officer, white male (9) with abusing his authority against a minority professor at a university. Here the math is 3-9=-6. Note we are over half way up the positive consequences scale. So, Obama does not receive the Nobel Peace Prize for falsely injecting racial conflict, but instead is allowed to have a beer-summit with all parties involved at the White House and is later described as a grand peacemaker. Conversely, Joe "the plumber," white male (9), asks then candidate Barack Obama, black male (3), on the campaign trail a question about business taxes and a much different situation occurs. Sorry Joe, but 9-3=+6 and it's time to turn your life upside down. When liberal activist Jeanine Garofalo accuses Rush Limbaugh of being the spiritual leader of a racist tea-bagger movement, no matter how you do the math (white female to conservative 6-10=-4 or lesbian to conservative 2-10=-8), Garofalo is guaranteed book deals and TV show appearance invitations. As a person begins to fully comprehend the victimization index, it becomes easier to answer questions of how an identified radical Muslin, like U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, could continue to operate despite sending red flags to so many people in the military. It is not that Hasan adeptly fooled onlookers, it's that few were in a rush to face the consequences of testing the index's outer limits of being a white male or conservative to point the finger at today's victim "king" in the Muslim male (10-1=+9 or 9-1=+8).
The simple truth, is you can do this all day with the same outcome; the numbers just don't lie. The lowest rung on the index is the conservative (10), and it is important to note that all identity, (race, sex, religion, etc.) is taken away from this person. To be a conservative in the modern world of liberal victimization is to be all but faceless. The Ibbetson WrightRoad Victimization Index is not meant to provoke, rather to describe the world as it currently exists. As important as this current reality is the evidence that this index is in continual flux. If society has the capability to alter our conception of victimization then it must be possible, it must be within our ability to lift triumph over victimization, and success over failure. I not only believe Americans can do this, but I also see it as in our true nature to do so. These are the numbers I would prefer to add up in our country's future.
© Paul A. Ibbetson
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
