'Personally Victimized' by Amazon?

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Amazon attempted to have a big sale event. They called it "Amazon Prime Day".

Although I wasn’t caught up in it, evidently a lot of people were. Amazon did a lot of advertising and marketing to promote it. The day has now come and gone and some people weren’t too thrilled with the event. Time posted an article titled, “Everybody Hates Amazon’s Prime Day Deals”, which wasn’t entirely true, for there were evidently a good number that chose to purchase items on sale. However, for many, it seems that it didn’t have enough “steals” for them to feel they had luckily “gotten away” with something fantastic and something of great valuable for less than a valuable price.

I wouldn’t normally pay much attention to this kind of thing, but there were so many comments by angry people that I thought it was quite telling of a culture that is miffed if their desires aren’t catered to…even if it means that a retailer must lose in the process.

I won’t bore you with all of the entitlement posts, but here is one that stuck out to me. It was written by “Casey” and this is what she angrily posted:

“Raise your hand if you feel like you have been personally victimized by Prime Day…”

How interesting! “Personally victimized by Amazon”...as if they had mugged her in a dark alley.

We are a culture that has granted great power to the “victim”…so much power that I believe people WANT to be a victim, maybe even seek ways to become a victim. Why? Because it gives you power. Possibly legal power to get compensated or rewarded or litigate some deal for yourself, but it also now brings personal power…prestige…significance…attention.

For the life of me I cannot imagine how anyone could feel “personally victimized” by a sale event that didn’t shower you with fantastic deals or steals.

Not only does this not seem right to me, but it feels like the attitude we are breeding in our people is destructive and debilitating, for it creates in us the kind of outlook that is far from that which is fruitful…it is one that assumes everyone else “owes” me and if I don’t get it, I’m then personally victimized and in desperate need of the system to compensate me for my deep and horrifying loss.

Wow!

A far cry from the pioneer spirit that built this nation, no?

 

 

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