Honor, Dignity and Victimhood

[Cato]

I was going to share this in the recent 'Bully Hotline' thread, but thought it warranted its own discussion.

Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business, recently authored a blog that builds on the content of a recent paper attempting to explain the proliferation of 'microagressions and trigger warnings' on college campuses. I have been keeping tabs on the dialogue since the concepts are so alien to me. Haidt's commentary has helped in framing a potential understanding of the phenomenon.
http://righteousmind.com/where-microaggr...come-from/

Haidt suggests that we are in the throws of a shift in our moral culture to a Culture of Victimhood. What preceded was a Culture of Honor followed by the more recent Culture of Dignity. Lengthy quotes to follow for those that are interested, but don't have the time to read the article.

Culture of Honor:

Because of their belief in the value of personal bravery and capability, people socialized into a culture of honor will often shun reliance on law or any other authority even when it is available, refusing to lower their standing by depending on another to handle their affairs (Cooney 1998:122–129). But historically, as state authority has expanded and reliance on the law has increased, honor culture has given way to something else: a culture of dignity.

Culture of Dignity:

 But in keeping with their ethic of restraint and toleration, it is not necessarily their first resort, and they might condemn many uses of the authorities as frivolous. People might even be expected to tolerate serious but accidental personal injuries…. The ideal in dignity cultures is thus to use the courts as quickly, quietly, and rarely as possible. The growth of law, order, and commerce in the modern world facilitated the rise of the culture of dignity, which largely supplanted the culture of honor among the middle and upper classes of the West…. But the rise of microaggression complaints suggests a new direction in the evolution of moral culture.

Culture of Victimhood:

A culture of victimhood is one characterized by concern with status and sensitivity to slight combined with a heavy reliance on third parties. People are intolerant of insults, even if unintentional, and react by bringing them to the attention of authorities or to the public at large. Domination is the main form of deviance, and victimization a way of attracting sympathy, so rather than emphasize either their strength or inner worth, the aggrieved emphasize their oppression and social marginalization.

Comparatively:

Public complaints that advertise or even exaggerate one’s own victimization and need for sympathy would be anathema to a person of honor – tantamount to showing that one had no honor at all. Members of a dignity culture, on the other hand, would see no shame in appealing to third parties, but they would not approve of such appeals for minor and merely verbal offenses. Instead they would likely counsel either confronting the offender directly to discuss the issue, or better yet, ignoring the remarks altogether.

I am intrigued by the idea if for no other reason that it provides some explanation for what I have been witnessing with the confused horror of someone witnessing a train wreck. 

Personally I identify with the Culture of Dignity, not by choice apparently, but because it was the moral culture in which I was reared. For this reason it would be easy for me to opine that the Culture of Dignity is superior; rallying support and invoking authority to take action for every insult and slight is just as alien to me as promptly beating the shit out of someone or challenging them to a duel for the same (Culture of Honor).