The cultivation - even celebration - of victimhood by intellectuals, tort lawyers, politicians and the media is both cause and effect of today's culture of complaint.
Interpretation
The quote critiques how various societal figures promote a victim mentality, which in turn contributes to a culture focused on complaining.
George Will's quote highlights the concern that the encouragement and celebration of victimhood by influential groups like intellectuals, lawyers, politicians, and the media create a cycle where complaining becomes a standard practice in society. He suggests that this state of victimhood not only arises from these influences but also perpetuates a culture that prioritizes grievances over solutions, ultimately shaping the social landscape negatively.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about social responsibility and the importance of taking personal accountability.
The problem with intelligent-design theory, is not that it is false but that it is not falsifiable. Not being susceptible to contradicting evidence, it is not a testable hypothesis. Hence it is not a scientific but a creedal tenet - a matter of faith, unsuited to a public school's science curriculum.
Correct thinkers think that 'baseball trivia' is an oxymoron: nothing about baseball is trivial.
Constitutional arguments that seem as dry as dust can have momentous consequences.
The civil forfeiture law - if something so devoid of due process can be dignified as law - is an incentive for perverse behavior: Predatory government agencies get to pocket the proceeds from property they seize from Americans without even charging them with, let alone convicting them of, crimes. Criminals are treated better than this because they lose the fruits of their criminality only after being convicted.
Actually, there is only one first question of government, and it is How should we live? or What kind of people do we want our citizens to be?
The business of America is not business. Neither is it war. The business of america is justice and securing the blessings of liberty.
Society is now one polished horde, formed of two mighty tries, the Bores and Bored.
False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.
All this shouldn't last; but it will, always; the human 'always' of course, a century, two centuries... and after that it will be different, but worse. We were the Leopards, the Lions; those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth.
We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.
Man is a special being, and if left to himself, in an isolated condition, would be one of the weakest creatures; but associated with his kind, he works wonders.
There are no norms. All people are exceptions to a rule that doesnβt exist.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.