Today’s blame culture is wrecking civilization—and it’s getting worse.

The latest from Aristotle Foundation President Mark Milke

No one disputes that some people are victims—of others, accidents, and life.

We also all know someone who seems stuck. They make life worse because of an intense focus on the past. On a personal level, the chronic victim-thinker can be toxic.

But what happens when victim narratives dominate entire societies? When citizens are divided into “settler” vs. “indigenous,” or “colonial” vs. supposedly “pure” pre-contact societies?

Also, what happens when one group demands compensation from others today merely because they resemble those who committed wrongs centuries before?

In this wide-ranging look at why societies fail or succeed, The Victim Cult explains how grievance narratives arise: Relentless blame of others, faulty moral reasoning, and misguided identity politics.

Victim cults are not new. Some have deep roots and end in disaster.

• Many 19th-century Germans thought they were victims of the French, English, liberalism, and Jews. Adolf Hitler later exploited that victim narrative to turn the land of Bach and Beethoven into the nation known for Dachau.
• Yasser Arafat viewed Palestinians and himself only as victims. When offered a peace deal with Israel, he cratered it, preferring blame and terror over peace. That led to Hamas taking over Gaza and its war on Israel today.

The Victim Cult also details the more positive lessons from those who were harmed but yet succeeded: the example of early Asian immigrants who courageously dealt with injustices and trumped prejudice, but also aimed at integration, education, and entrepreneurship. Those choices built a better Canada and a better America with opportunities for all.

“This excellent book was eight years in the writing and it shows. But not because it is pedantic; on the contrary, Milke wears his scholarship lightly. His crisp, polished prose belies the exhaustive research that permits him to speak out so boldly and broadly on what is a sensitive, often culturally weaponized subject.” — Barbara Kay, National Post

Buy The Victim Cult and The Aristotle Foundation will receive part of the royalties.