Should I have jumped on the victim bandwagon? Sometimes I feel like I missed my chance. I had a ticket to ride and everything. At least I think I did. I may have been born with male privilege. My mom, wife and sister weren’t so lucky. They had to work harder for everything. My daughter’s will too. But my privilege ended with gender. I’m a Mexican American and the grandson of a Mexican immigrant. My people my peeps know all about being discriminated against hated, looked down on. We’ve been there done that. Mexican Americans who live in southwestern states like California, Arizona, or Texas, have long been the victims of discrimination. The rap sheet is long restaurants hanging signs in their windows that red no dogs are Mexicans allowed. Mexican kids attended segregated schools and had to sit in the balcony of movie theaters. They only use public swimming pools on Friday because the city drained and cleaned the pools on Saturday. So I don’t see myself as a victim or play the victim or think of myself as a victim. My parents didn’t raise me that way. And their parents didn’t raise them that way either. We’re all about working hard, not making excuses. That kind of thinking is out of date. And so I feel a little out of place. When my folks were growing up in 1940s, the motto of the United States used to be a pluribus unum, from many one. Today, my kids and the rest of Generation Z are inheriting a country where the new motto is call my lawyer. I’ve been damaged, wronged, insulted, cheated, and the scoundrels will not get away with it. I’ll litigate in America circa 2020. For everyone, it seems as a victim. It’s practically a national religion these days. Nobody did anything wrong or made any bad choices, someone or something else is always to blame. It’s just easier and more convenient that way. Not that there isn’t still a whole lot of legitimate victimizing going on out there. Don’t get me wrong. There certainly is. It’s just that victim status seems to be the easy default position for many Americans of all ages, all colors, all faiths. And my parents day, I get the sense it was harder to be a victim. And so they were probably fewer of them. Maybe the competition was different back then. I bet there was no victim Olympics like there is now I can see why. See, back then the white folks ran everything took everything got everything. And so it would never have occurred to them. to scream about how they had been mistreated, like was good. Meanwhile, non white folks were taught not to get up at or speak up or complain about how they were being mistreated. So there’s your formula for limiting the number of victims. But now it’s all different white folks no longer get 100% of the pie. They have to scrimp and sacrifice and make it on just 80%. And the folks that used to be and that other 20% Yep, they’re the new victims. Today. The most aggrieved victim in America is a 50 year old white male living in Ohio or Michigan. He chose not to go to college. He went straight to work right in the middle. Then the mill closed. He lost his job. He drank hurt his back, got hooked on painkillers. He’s struggling, as life turned out to be harder than he thought it would be. I mean, he’s not a black woman with a disability life was supposed to be easier for people like him. For this, he blames in no particular order. Mexican immigrants who take jobs, rich people who don’t pay their fair share of taxes, affirmative action that keeps his kids out of Princeton, trade deals, globalization, politicians in both parties, the liberal media and the man in the moon. This great white male victim voted for Bernie Sanders, then Donald Trump, then Joe Biden. Oh, and one more thing about this guy in his entire house, you won’t find a mirror