Victims: the key to understanding the current major strategic adjustment in Europe and the United States

The concept of "victim" is the key to understanding the current major adjustment of European and American post-Cold War strategies. This concept has not attracted the attention of the academic circle for a long time. It was not until 2016 that it began to enter the field of view of scholars thematically in the increasingly serious immigration crisis in Europe and the United States.

The concept of "victim" comes from "marginal people". "Marginal people" has always been the focus of Western sociology, which stems from the Christian tradition. In the 25th chapter of Matthew's Gospel of the Bible, which describes the scene of the Last Judgment:

 25:31 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on the throne of his glory.
25:32 All nations will be gathered before him. He will separate them as a shepherd separates sheep from goats.
25:33 Set the sheep on the right and the goat on the left.
25:34 Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
25:35 You feed me because I am hungry. I am thirsty, give me something to drink. I am a stranger, and you keep me here.
25:36 I am naked, and you clothe me. I am sick, you take care of me. I am in prison, and you come to see me.
25:37 The righteous answered and said, Lord, when will we find you hungry and feed you, and thirsty and give you drink?
25:38 When will I see you as a stranger and stay with you, or clothe you naked.
25:39 When did I see you sick, or in prison, and come to see you?
25:40 The king will answer and say, Truly I tell you, if you have done these things to the least of my brethren, you have done them to me.
25:41 And the king will say to those on the left, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
25:42 You do not feed me because I am hungry. I am thirsty, and you will not give me a drink.
25:43 I am a stranger, and you do not keep me. I am naked and you do not clothe me. I'm sick, I'm in prison, and you don't visit me.
25:44 They shall also answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not serve you?
25:45 The king will answer and say, Truly I tell you, you have not done these things to the least of my brethren, or you have not done them to me.
25:46 These people will go to eternal punishment. The righteous will go to eternal life.

In this way, the Christian's measure of whether he is eternal punishment or eternal life can be reduced to the attitude toward "the least of my brothers." There is no doubt that "my brother" is also a follower of Christ. In fact, the concept of "people" in the Bible, since the Five Books of Moses, has the connotation of "God's chosen people" and does not refer to all people. In other words, Jesus asked believers to help the most marginalized among the believers.

Since then, helping marginalized people has become a Christian tradition. After the rise of sociology, studying marginalized people has become one of the tasks of sociology. For example, research on prostitutes, drug addicts, and homosexuality is not understood as a eccentricity that exposes the dark side of society, as in China, but as a way to "immortal life" in Doomsday, which is one of the most respected studies. This truth is not difficult to understand: if the crux of the plight of the marginalized in society is found, and their conditions improve, society will naturally become better.

On the contrary, if the problem of marginalized people is not solved, the fault lies with "you", "marginalized people" will become "victims", and "you" will go to eternal punishment.

Obviously, initially, "you" meant followers of Jesus. This is clear in chapter 10 of Matthew:

 10:14 Whoever does not receive you or listen to you, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or city.
10:15 Truly I say to you, it will be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.

It can be seen that the victim had no relationship with non-Christians at first. Later, the disciples of Jesus founded the church and spread the word to the Gentiles. The victims were separated from the Jews, but they were still confined to the church. Although fundamental disagreements over the concept of victimization were planted after the sixteenth-century Reformation, they did not become prominent for a long time.

After the Cold War, there was an atmosphere of optimism in Western society, believing that Western democracy has won, and Western values have become universal values, which will gradually be spread and realized around the world.

On the one hand, Western universal values are the only value system based on the "individual" and the only value with modernity. In all pre-modern societies, the "individual" is discredited, and it is reminiscent of "selfishness," "Self-interest" and other derogatory terms, "collective" is honorable and sacred, and "selflessness" is an inherent feature of all uncivilized civilizations. On the other hand, the focus on the "individual" makes the "victim model" the basic mode of thinking in the process of global dissemination of Western values.

In the eyes of Western optimists, people in countries that have not yet reached the standards of modern civilization are victims. Whether it is a victim of colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, communism, etc., or a victim of human rights, women's rights, citizenship, etc., in short, they are victims.

In the tradition, helping marginalized people is about whether you go to heaven or hell, and the existence of victims is almost proof that you should go to hell. Today, even if secularized people no longer believe in Christianity, this concept has long been internalized into the inherent habits of Westerners. In Western society, the improvement of civilization standards, especially the respect and protection of individual rights in modern civilization, has greatly reduced the number of "victims" in Western society. At the same time, looking at the world, in the eyes of Westerners, there are "victims" everywhere. .

In the more than 20 years since the end of the Cold War, Western countries have raised the standard of civilization with a "victim" mentality internally, and also viewed the global order with a "victim" mentality externally, adjusted their global strategies, and launched wars or subversive actions. But this mindset eventually revealed its dilemma in the European refugee wave.

The explosion of refugee flows in Europe began with a news photo. In the early hours of September 2, 2015, a three-year-old from Syria drowned while trying to land in Greece. The bodies of children were washed ashore, and the photos of the corpse beach were reprinted by the global media. Its powerful impact shocked the world. This irrefutable image of the "victim" quickly melted the borders of the European Union. On September 5, the German government decided to open its borders to accept refugees without restrictions. The resulting refugee crisis in Europe, including social and political crises, continues to this day.

This crisis has given everyone an opportunity to reflect on the inadequacies of the "victim" model. First of all, Jesus initially referred to "I" in his final judgment: "Because I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you kept me. I was naked. , you clothe me. I am sick, and you look after me. I am in prison, and you come to see me." Apart from Jesus, "my brother" no longer exists, that is, those who do not believe in Jesus do not exist. The ranks of marginalized people also have no connection with the victims. Secondly, the victory of the Cold War is considered to be the victory of the universal values of the West. Only after the "universal" is achieved, all non-Western people may become "victims". Third, in the process of the secularization of modern civilization, those who believe in Jesus have transformed into those who believe in the values of modern civilization, which means that only those who believe in the values of modern civilization are logical "victims".

The question is not whether the value itself is universal or controversial, but the method of promoting that value. The first method is a method designed for others, taking the initiative to see others as a member of "us" and making them "victims". The second method is that the parties are free to choose and decide by themselves.

From another point of view, when everyone freely chooses and acts voluntarily, custom is always his first choice, and only when custom cannot solve his confusion and anxiety will he seek it out. Only at this time, as a non-Western world of the people, Western values came into his field of vision as an option. Only such a process can be free and appreciated by modern values. In other words, Western civilization will not lead to self-denial only if it offers its own values to the world as an opinion, rather than imposing truth on the world.

In fact, as early as the Reformation, Calvinism already offered a very specific solution to the current predicament: redemptive predestination. This belief believes that whether or not people can be saved by God is pre-determined, and cannot be changed or known by individuals. Any efforts made by people are useless. Whether people are saved or not depends only on God, not on people. All one can count on is to try to find evidence of their salvation. Faithful beliefs and good deeds may become evidence of one's own salvation. Unlike the medieval church, where the clergy judged whether a person was rescued or not, Calvinism subtly turned it into personal judgment and speculation, infiltrating the words and deeds of one's life, seeking evidence of one's own rescue all the time, and this search all the time. Introspection behavior, only through their own endless efforts, it is possible to obtain more evidence.

In its early days, Calvinism shaped the American spirit, but also the capitalist spirit. This is a belief that requires everyone to participate in the construction, and it is by far the strongest method for constructing the group model of "us" by individuals.

The Western world is undergoing a major strategic adjustment after the Cold War. No matter how the politics fluctuates in the short term, if we want to get out of the predicament, sooner or later, we can only return to the spiritual source provided by Calvinism, that is, each party should participate. Without the identification of the parties' values, it is impossible to construct "we" as a value community, and there will be no "victims" who are later deduced through common values.

February 23, 2017