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The Flawed Logic in Victim Blaming
Putting the onus of safety on the victim is textbook aggressor mentality
I recently came across a post on Reddit where a Redditor narrated an incident of harassment he faced while commuting on the metro system of my city. The replies to his account were wide and varied, but one particular comment caught my eye:
This comment was automatically hidden by Reddit as it was downvoted many times, but I’m glad I scrolled all the way down to the bottom and opened it anyway.
There are so many problems with this logic that I honestly don’t even know where to begin. But I’ll compose myself and start with the most obvious: Putting the onus of blame on the victim, i.e. victim blaming.
The many issues with victim blaming
There are many false assumptions carried by a person who victim blames others.
As a victim blamer:
Firstly, you’re insinuating that it was the victims fault for looking weak and frail, and hence, was reason enough for someone to physically/verbally attack him. This is a representation of the ‘Just World Phenomenon’, a psychological phenomenon where people who believe that the world is fair attempt to rationalize injustice and inequity by blaming the victim of such injustice.
