We have become a nation of victims, with officially protected victim groups adding up to 73% of the population (p.6). According to a new book by the independent think tank Civitas, victimhood today is a political status that is sought after because of the advantages it brings, including preferential treatment in the workplace, the possibility of using police power to silence unwelcome critics, and financial compensation. Some groups are claiming to be victims of multiple discrimination: if their claims are taken seriously, 109% of the population have victim status (p.7).

According to David Green's book We're (Nearly) All Victims Now!, politicised victimhood undermines liberalism, weakens our democratic culture and subverts equality before the law, as well as police and judicial impartiality. From 2007, the government intends to establish a Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) that will protect six groups: women, ethnic groups and disabled people, plus those defined by sexual orientation, age, and religion or belief.

Many were surprised to learn in June 2006 that the law now considers the murder of a gay man as a more serious crime than the murder of someone who is not gay. The murderers of Jody Dobrowski on Clapham Common were given 28 years when, according to the judge, if they had voiced no hostility towards the victim's sexuality, the sentence would have been halved. The case sparked some media comment. Was it really worse than the murder of medical student, Daniel Pollen, in Romford, Essex in July 2005-a killing that was captured on CCTV and appeared to be without obvious motive? The judge thought so in June 2006, and the 'starting point' for calculating the sentence of Daniel Pollen's killer will be only 15 years. Is animosity to gays a worse motive than, for example, a calculated killing to silence a witness-perhaps when a rapist murders his female victim to prevent her giving evidence? Or is it worse than a drive-by shooting that takes innocent life at random? (p.vii)

Some recent events reveal the extent to which the leadership of the police has been captured by special interest groups who hope to use police power to suppress legitimate critics. Remarks about the Welsh by Tony Blair and Christina Odone, for example, led to police investigations (pp.49-50).

Sam Brown, an Oxford undergraduate who went out in May 2005 to celebrate the end of his exams, was also targeted by the police. Emboldened by a drink or two, Mr Brown said to a mounted police officer: 'Excuse me, do you realise your horse is gay'. Two squad cars were sent to arrest him and he was detained in a police cell overnight and given a fixed penalty notice for £80, which he refused to pay. The case came to court in January 2006 and the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case at the last minute because there was not enough evidence. The police insisted that he had made 'homophobic comments that were deemed offensive to people passing by'.

The police claimed that the remarks were 'deemed' offensive and had led them to charge him under section 5 of the Public Order Act with behaviour 'likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress'. The case reveals the major difficulty with hate crime, namely that facts do not matter. The hate-crime manual of ACPO (the Association of Chief Police Officers) repeatedly states that the facts are immaterial. When speaking of secondary victimisation (when a person is dissatisfied with the police service) it says: 'Secondary victimisation takes place whether or not the police are indifferent or reject the victims if that is how the victim feels about the interaction. Whether or not it is reasonable for them to feel that way is immaterial.'

"By pandering to the desires of victim groups with an axe to grind, the police have stopped being the representatives of the 'reasonable person' and become the playthings of political activists or petty-minded members of the public (p. 53)… Group self-interest includes not only material benefits but also emotional pleasures such as righteous indignation and exerting power over others. Demands to be able to subject opponents to police action are perhaps the strongest examples of the latter: 'I'll get the police onto you for saying that'." (p. 73)

Our democratic culture has been based on discussion, compromise, give-and-take, and mutual learning. Victimocracy creates entrenched social divisions between victims and their oppressors. It makes the political process more of a battle for advantage at the expense of other people instead of a search for the common good. By trying to put some issues beyond rational contradiction, victimhood reduces the role of reasoned discussion, and thus the part that can be played by ordinary people in puncturing the pretensions of rulers and elitists with brute facts. Moral equality is the belief that every individual has the potential for rational autonomy and seeing right from wrong. From this view, it follows that people should not be treated differently solely because of inherited group characteristics (p. 29):

"civilisation has advanced by individuals pushing themselves to the limit-pursuing 'transcendental' values: truth, goodness and beauty-not wallowing in self pity and delighting in blaming others" (p. 23)

An important part of victimocracy is the strategy is to establish that the victim is the sole judge of when language is offensive. To keep oppressors and sympathisers on the hop, every now and then they change the words that cause offence. Recently the commonly-used term 'mental handicap' has been redefined as insulting (pp.32-33). But sometimes the tactic backfires. Stonewall in Wales has decided that the term 'openly gay' is unacceptable. Its web page on hate crime warns journalists that including phrases in reporting such as 'the victim was openly gay' or somehow 'flaunted her/his sexuality' suggests to readers that the victim is somehow responsible for the crime. It suggests they 'brought it on themselves' and can serve to 'endorse some people's prejudices'. However, the penchant of victim groups for changing at very short notice the words they find insulting not only traps oppressors, it can also catch out fellow victims. Word had obviously not got through to Stonewall in London, whose website displays the Stonewall manifesto for the 2005 general election. It regrets the fact that there are still only a 'tiny number of openly-gay MPs'. (pp. 33-34)

There is special danger in the variety of victimhood that demands equal respect for all group beliefs, as if none threaten the foundations of liberal democracy:

"But some beliefs, particularly Islamic precepts such as death for apostates or the inferior legal status of women, are not compatible with liberal democracy. If the core belief of liberalism is moral equality, then it assumes autonomous individuals guided by conscience and not merely obedient to authority. It contends that moral choice is only worthy of the name if it is a free choice, and that everyone, of any rank, must be considered capable of judging right from wrong." (p. 77)

'We're (Nearly) All Victims Now! How political correctness is undermining our liberal culture' by David G. Green is published by Civitas, 77 Great Peter Street, London SW1P 2EZ, tel 020 7799 6677, www.civitas.org.uk, at £10.00 inc. p&p.

For more information ring:

David Green 020 7799 6677

Robert Whelan 020 7799 6677

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