‘We are the victims… therefore nobody should blame us for the things we do.’
Who do you think said this? Some blue-haired campus activist who’s convinced they’re suffering from structural oppression? A trans campaigner, perhaps, who thinks being misgendered is an act of violence? Maybe some other social justice type who feels victimised by everything from statues of old colonialists to un-PC jokes?
Actually it was Ghazi Hamad, a leading figure in Hamas. Yes, Hamas is now the armed wing of the culture of victimhood. The genocidal army of the cloying politics of self-pity. One headline paraphrased his comments as follows: ‘We are victims – everything we do is justified.’ If anyone can find a better summary than that of the violent narcissism of our times, I’d be happy to see it.
Hamad, who has held various positions in the Hamas regime, made his remarks in an interview on Lebanese TV.
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